Evaluation of refused tea waste activated carbon for color removal: Equilibrium and kinetic studies

New technologies or improvement of the existing technologies are required to enhance the efficiency of removal of pollutants from wastewater. In this study we attempted to produce and test the activated carbon produced from the refused tea waste for the removal of dyes from wastewater. The objectives of this investigation were to produce activated carbon from refused tea waste by chemical activation, evaluate its performance for the removal of color produced from Acid Yellow 36, and the modeling of its dye removal with the kinetic study. The activation was performed in two steps namely carbonization at $375{\pm}25^{\circ}C$ and chemical activation with HCl at $800^{\circ}C$ under the absence of Oxygen. Adsorption isotherms and kinetic studies were performed with a textile dye, Acid Yellow 36, at different concentrations (20-80 mg/L). The maximum dye removal (~90%) observed at 80 mg/L dye concentration and it reduced at low dye concentrations. Maximum adsorption (71.97 mg/g) was recorded at 96 h at $29{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. Low pH increased the dye adsorption (pH=2; 78.27 mg/g) while adsorption reduced at high pH levels indicating that the competition occurs in between OH- ions and AY36 molecules for the adsorption sites in RTAC. The Langmuir isotherm model clearly explained the dye adsorption, favorably, by RTAC. Moreover, kinetic studied performed showed that the pseudo second order kinetic model clearly describes the dye adsorption. Based on the results obtained in this study, it can be concluded that RTAC can be used for the removal of textile dyes.