Surface-modified Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) over Activated Carbon for Wastewater Treatment: A Comparative Account

Finding an economical, efficient and easy handling alternative for commercial grade activated charcoal (AC) in textile wastewater treatment is a dire need. To address this, a noxious weed water hyacinth (WH) has been explored as a ‘biosorbent’ for the decolorization of the hazardous textile dye, Remazol Brilliant Red 3BS (RBR 3BS) in wastewater. A novel surface modification has been carried out using the quaternary ammonium salt, N-Cetyl-N,N,N–trimethyl ammonium bromide, to enhance the dye decolorization capacity of raw WH. The impact of several process parameters, viz. pH, dosage of adsorbent, temperature, concentration and contact time have been examined. Batch adsorption studies, kinetic-thermodynamics, isothermal modelling and error analysis have been studied to ascertain the efficacy of the adsorbent. A comparison of the results has been carried out with activated carbon (AC). Surface-modified WH showed the highest dye uptake of 104.26 mg g, at 27 °C, which was about 10 times more than that of AC. Isothermal, kinetic and thermodynamic studies were conducted for identification of adsorption type taking place for dye–adsorbent systems. Energy of activation was 8.65 kJ mol for treated WH and 8.98 kJ mol for AC. It was proven that surface-modified WH had a high capability to replace AC for adsorption treatments.