Sorption of Methyl Orange from Aqueous Solution on Chitosan Biomass

Many industries such as textile, pulp and paper, dyestuffs and plastics industries use dyes to color their products and discharge a considerable amount of colored wastewater into the environment. Dyes are recalcitrant molecules (particularly azo dyes), toxic and even carcinogenic and make a serious hazard to aquatic organisms. Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate them before discharging. This study investigates the adsorption behavior of Methyl orange (MO) from aqueous solution on chitosan biomass. In a preliminary study, the sorption of MO has been carried out as a function of shaking time, pH, dye concentration and temperature. The sorption of MO was characterized using SEM-EDAX and FT-IR spectroscopy. The equilibrium data on the Methyl orange fitted to both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, but the experimental data of the MO were found to be better fitted by the Freundlich model. Maximum sorption capacity reached up to 29 mg g-1 at pH 3 was achieved within 60 min. The sorption data were best fit with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. These results indicate that chitosan is an interesting alternative for dye removal from the wastewater.