Biosorption of three textile dyes from contaminated water by filamentous green algal Spirogyra sp.: Kinetic, isotherm and thermodynamic studies

•The biosorption of three textile dyes by Spirogyra sp was evaluated.•The effect of operational conditions on dyes removal efficiency was investigated.•The feasibility, spontaneous and endothermic nature of the process was confirmed.•The isotherm data were well fitted to the Freundlich isotherm.•Pseudo-second order kinetic model best described the biosorption process.

A freshwater filamentous green alga Spirogyra sp. was used as an inexpensive and efficient biosorbent for the removal of C.I. Acid Orange 7 (AO7), C.I. Basic Red 46 (BR46) and C.I. Basic Blue 3 (BB3) dyes from contaminated water. The effects of various physico–chemical parameters on dye removal efficiency were investigated, e.g. contact time, pH, initial dyes concentration, the amount of alga, temperature and biosorbent particle size. Dyes biosorption was a quick process and reactions reached to equilibrium conditions within 60 min. The biosorption capacity of three dyes onto alga was found in the following order: BR46 > BB3> AO7. The values of thermodynamic parameters, including ΔG, ΔH and ΔS, indicated that the biosorption of the dyes on the dried Spirogyra sp. biomass was feasible, spontaneous and endothermic. The pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and the intraparticle diffusion models were applied to the experimental data in order to kinetically describe the removal mechanism of dyes, with the second one showing the best fit with the experimental kinetic biosorption data (R2 = 0.99). It was also found that the adsorption process followed the Freundlich isotherm model with the highest value of correlation coefficients (0.99) and the biosorption capacity being estimated to be 13.2, 12.2 and 6.2 mg g−1 for BR46, BB3 and AO7, respectively.