Decolorization of methyl orange with mesoporous materials made from Spent Solar Panel

In this research, the adsorption of methyl orange (MO) using Mobile Crystalline Material No. 41 (MCM-41), Mobile Crystalline Material No. 41 - Solar Panel (MCM-SP), and Mobile Crystalline Material No. 41 - Glass (MCM-G), made from spent solar panel and spent glass with MCM-41, was analyzed. Recently, costs associated with the disposal and utilization of Spent Solar Panel and spent glass have increased due to more stringent government regulation. This disposal cost coupled with the growth in the generation of spent solar panel and spent glass has prompted a drive for alternative uses or disposal methods. One alternative use of these waste products may be as an absorbent for MO. In this paper, MO decolorization efficiencies achieved using MCM-41, MCM-SP, and MCM-G were over 95, 70 and 44% respectively. The fitness of both Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models on describing the equilibrium isotherms of methyl orange dye was also examined.