Abstract
Dyes are noxious organic compounds released from different sources producing severe water pollution, thus imparting color to water consequently affecting ecosystem, terrestrial, as well as aquatic life and reducing transmission of sunlight through water. Several techniques have been used for wastewater treatment but adsorption has been proposed as a most effective and significant method for toxic dye removal from industrial wastewater. Low-cost and easily available biomass can be used for the wastewater treatment. The purpose of this study is to synthesize and use of cost-effective, eco-friendly, easily accessible, and magnetically modified nano-biosorbents of pine needles (MCPN) and banana peels (MCBP) for methylene blue dye adsorption from aqueous and industrial effluent. The characterization of prepared nano-composite in terms of structure, morphology, composition and thermal stability were well supported by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction pattern, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The adsorption experimentations were investigated in batch sorption mode to examine the influence of pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, concentration of dye, and temperature. The kinetics of the adsorption study followed the pseudo-second-order model while the adsorption isotherm data fitted well to the Temkin model for MCBP and the Freundlich model for MCPN. The thermodynamic parameters were measured and proposed that the adsorption processes were spontaneous and endothermic, having increased randomness at the solid-liquid interface during the dye sorption. The adsorption capacity of MCPN equipped under optimized conditions for methylene blue was 1193 and 296.4 mg/g for MCBP. Moreover, the successful application in industrial effluent of MCPN showed more adsorption as compared to MCBP. In conclusion, research elucidated that magnetically modified biosorbents could be used to remove methylene blue dye from wastewater to improve water quality and overcome disposal problem and waste management in an eco-friendly way.