The Perlite-calcium Alginate-activated Carbon Composite as an Efficient Adsorbent for the Removal of Dyes from Aqueous Solutions

To remove dyes from wastewater, the perlite-calcium alginate–activated carbon (PCA) composite was prepared by a simple method. This composite was characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, and BET techniques. A high capacity of PCA was observed for the adsorption of some dyes such as methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) from aqueous solutions (1111 and 909 mg g-1). The best results were achieved at pHs (3 and 8), dyes initial doses (8 and 10 ppm), adsorbent dose (0.008 and 0.01), time (60 min) and temperature (15-20 ⁰C) for MO and MB. The adsorption of MB and MO on the as-prepared PCA was matched by pseudo-second order model and corresponded to the Langmuir isotherm. Under optimum adsorption conditions, the yield of adsorption was obtained for MB and MO. Results indicated that PCA can be a good candidate for adsorption of dyes. The proposed green chemistry-based preparation method is simple, economical, and more reusable compared to the individual application of primary materials.