Comparative Adsorption of Crystal Violet and Congo Red onto ZnCl2 Activated Carbon

In this study, the adsorption characteristics of crystal violet (CV) and Congo red (CR) dyes from the aqueous solution onto prepared activated carbon were examined. The activated carbon was prepared from wood apple shell by chemical activation with ZnCl₂. The parameters studied were the effect of contact time, initial dyes concentration, and pH of solution. The experimental equilibrium data were analyzed and fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherms. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities of CV and CR dyes were found to be 142.85 and 83.33 mg per gram of prepared activated carbon at 298 K. The kinetic data obtained at different concentrations were analyzed using pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intra-particle diffusion models. Batch adsorption kinetic studies showed that the adsorption of dyes followed pseudo-second-order kinetics and at four different concentrations of both dyes, indicating that chemisorption is the rate-limiting step. Thermodynamic studies reveal that the removal of dyes from aqueous solution onto activated carbon was a spontaneous, feasible, and endothermic process at a temperature greater than standard equilibrium temperature.