Evaluation of Wheat Bran as a Biosorbent for Potential Mitigation of Dye Pollution in Industrial Waste Waters

Abstract

Crystal Violet (CV) is a basic dye that is extensively used for various industrial uses, ranging from, antimicrobial agent, paints, printing ink, biological stains, to textile dyes. Despite its many uses, it has been associated with environment pollution and toxicity, just like other chemical based industrial dyes, if not kept in check. In the current study, wheat bran (WB), an agro-industrial waste reside, was tested for its adsorptive potential for removal/decrease of CV from industrial waste waters. Under optimized conditions of incubation (pH 8, temperature 30° C, adsorbent concentration 10gm/L, time 180 mins & adsorbate concentration 100mg/L), the adsorbent removed around 88% of CV from its aqueous solution, fitting appropriately adsorption model (Langmuir isotherm) with maximum adsorption capability (qm) value of 25.66 mg/gm, and following pseudo first-order kinetic model. Alkali treatment of adsorbent, though, showed around 4% increase in dye decolorization, but unmodified bran was preferred for further work to justify the need for cheap and environment friendly adsorbent to remediate industrial dye waste waters.