Adsorption of Brilliant Scarlet 3R by Natural Diatomite

Abstract

The adsorption of acid dyes by diatomite was investigated using Brilliant Scarlet 3R (NSK). Adsorption of this textile dyes onto diatomite earth sample was studied by batch adsorption techniques at varying temperatures 298K, 309K, 318K, 328K. The adsorption behavior of textile dye on diatomite samples was investigated using a UV–vis spectrophotometric technique. The adsorption processes follow the pseudo second–order model, and adsorption coverage over the surface of diatomite was studied using two well-known isotherm models: Langmuir’s and Freundlich’s. These results suggest that the dye adsorption isotherms fit well to Freundlich and Langmuir equation. The Freundlich equation 1/n between 0.3636 and 0.879 indicates favorable adsorption. The main driving forces of adsorption are electrostatic attraction and van der waals force. These results show that natural diatomite holds great potential to remove textile dyes from wastewater.