Adsorptive removal of malachite green dye from aqueous solution onto activated carbon of Catha edulis stem as a low cost bio-adsorbent

Abstract Background The release of hazardous synthetic dyes into industrial effluents has emerged as an environmental problem requiring remediation. The present study focused on the preparation of a new and environmentally-friendly material (adsorbent) for the remediation of hazardous dyes from aqueous solution. The low cost adsorbent was prepared from locally available khat ( Catha edulis ) stem which considered as waste and accumulated on waste disposal areas of Woldia town, Ethiopia. Comprehensive characterization studies were carried out on the bio-adsorbent such as proximate analyses, specific surface area, point of zero charge and FT-IR analysis. Results The proximate analysis shows the prepared adsorbent has very high fixed carbon content (83.65%), which refers to high quality of the adsorbent. The adsorption performance of the prepared activated carbon was optimized by varying operational parameters such as initial dye concentration (10 mg/L), pH (10), dosage (0.5 g), and contact time (60 min). The maximum removal efficiency of the prepared adsorbent at those optimum conditions was 98.8%. The experimental data was tested by most common kinetics and isotherm models. It was observed that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model fits better with good correlation coefficient and the equilibrium data fitted well with the Freundlich isotherm model. Conclusion In summery this study demonstrated that the waste bio sorbent could be employed as an effective and eco-friendly alternative for the cleanup of dye-polluted aqueous system.