Application of Full Factorial Design for Removal of Polycyclic Aromatic Dye from Aqueous Solution Using 4A Zeolite: Adsorption Isotherms, Thermodynamic and Kinetic Studies

Abstract

In this study, removal of the cationic dye acridine orange (AO) from aqueous solution using 4A zeolite was studied. The adsorption experiments were performed using batch system, and full factorial design was employed for investigating the condition of removal efficiency of dye. The four most important operating variables were the initial pH of the solution, the concentration of dye, the contact time, and the temperature. The 18 experiments were required to investigate the effect of variables on removal of the dye. The results were statistically analyzed to define important experimental variables and their levels using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). A regression model that considers the significant main and interaction effects was suggested and fitted the experimental data very well. Model predictions were found to be in good agreement (R2 = 99.99%, adjusted R2 = 99.86%) with experimental data. The optimized conditions for dye removal were at initial pH 3.0, 20.0 mg L−1 dye, temperature 298.0 K and 80.0 min adsorption time. The experimental data were analyzed by the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Sips adsorption models. The maximum predicted adsorption capacities for AO was obtained as 29.851 mg g−1. The adsorption thermodynamic parameters, namely ΔH°ads, ΔG°ads and ΔS°ads, were determined. Furthermore, the kinetic of AO adsorption on the 4A zeolite was analyzed using pseudo-first- and second-order kinetic models and the results showed that the removal was mainly a pseudo-second-order process.