Removal of hazardous Rhodamine dye from water by adsorption onto exhausted coffee ground

Exhausted coffee ground powder (CGP) was proved to be an efficient adsorbent for the removal of Rhodamine dyes (i.e. Rhodamine B and Rhodamine 6G) from aqueous solutions by batch adsorption experiments. The morphology, chemical structure as well as the surface property of the as-prepared CGP adsorbent were investigated by using SEM, FT-IR and contact angle meter analytical techniques. The adsorption kinetics and isotherm behaviors of Rhodamine molecules onto CGP were studied and compared using pseudo-1st, pseudo-2nd and Langmuir/Freundlich models, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities of Rh B and Rh 6G were calculated at 5.255 and 17.369 μmol g−1 by Langmuir model fitting. The effects of temperature, ionic strength, solution volume and the co-existing anions on the sorption behavior were also investigated. Furthermore, the adsorption mechanism responsible for the efficient removal of dyes is discussed in terms of adsorption process caused by electrostatic and intermolecular forces.