Experimental and Optimization Studies for the Adsorption of Cationic Dyes from Synthetic Waste Water on the Biomass of Orthophosphoric Acid Activated Barks of Prosopis Cineraria

The sorption ability of readily available barks of Prosopis cineraria (PCAC) activated by orthophosphoric acid was investigated through the effect of various process parameters such as initial dye concentration [50 to 200 mg/L], contact time, solution pH (3 to 10), and temperature [298K to 328K] and optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The physiochemical activation process was used to yield a sample with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 7.024 m²/g. The Activated carbon was characterized by using FT-IR and SEM. The various adsorption isotherms and kinetic models were used to interpret the experimental data. Good agreement was found between the experimental results and predicted values by RSM and about 88%, 70%, and 93% of removal efficiencies were achieved for cationic (Methylene Blue (MB), Rhodamine B (RHB), and Rhodamine 6G (RH6G) dyes with concentration 70 mg/L.