Produced activated carbon from Acasia Dealbata husk for removal of malachite green dye from water samples

Dyes are one of the larger groups of pollutants in wastewater from textile and other industrial processes. About 15% of the total world production of dyes are lost during the dyeing process1. Dyes can be converted to the toxic or carcinogenic compounds. The dyes are toxic in certain concentration, so that the release of dyes into the environment can damage our health [1]. Malachite green (MG), a basic dye, is most widely used for coloring purpose, amongst all other dyes of its category [2]. This triarylmethane dye is widely used in the aquaculture industry worldwide as a biocide as well as in the silk, wool, cotton, leather, paper, and acrylic industries as a dye. Furthermore, it is also employed as therapeutic agent to treat parasites, fungal and bacterial infections in fish and fish eggs and as antiseptic, but only for external applications on the wounds and ulcers. Despite its extensive use, MG is a highly controversial compound due to its reported toxic properties which are known to cause carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, teratogenesis, and respiratory toxicity [3]. Its oral consumption is also hazardous and carcinogenic [3]. However, despite the large amount of data on its toxic effects, MG is still used in aquaculture and other industries. Therefore, the removal of MG from wastewater before discharging is necessary and very important. The removal of color from dye bearing effluents is one of the major problems due to the difficulty in treating such wastewaters by conventional treatment methods. Sorption technique is proved to be an effective process for the removal of color from dye wastewaters, because of its efficiency, flexibility, and economic feasibility. Activated carbon is the most commonly used adsorbent for the removal of various pollutants from wastewaters. In this research, a new type of activated carbon produced from Arabica acacia seeds was used as a natural absorbent to remove malachite green from aqueous solutions. Parameters affecting absorption such as pH, initial concentration and contact time were studied. The results for the equilibrium companions were consistent with the Langmuir and Freundlich equations. The maximum removal percentage of malachite green color was obtained using 0.3 g of adsorbent and the best call time for the removal percentage was 30 minutes. The optimum pH was obtained for removal of 3. It was observed that increasing salt concentration led to a slight reduction in the absorption of malachite green on the adsorbent and the efficiency was eliminated. The results of this study showed that produced active activated from Acacia seeds can be used as an effective and inexpensive absorbent to remove malachite green from an aqueous solutions.