Garlic Root Biomass as Novel Biosorbents for Malachite Green Removal: Parameter Optimization,Process Kinetics and Toxicity Test

The potential of the agricultural waste garlic root to remove malachite green(MG) from aqueous solutions was evaluated. The adsorption of this dye onto garlic root was confirmed by means of Fourier transform infrared analysis(FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). The equilibrium data fitted well into the Langmuir mo- del(R²>0.99), and the adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order equation(R²>0.99). The maximum adsorption capacities of MG onto the adsorbent were 172.41 and 232.56 mg/g with the addition of 1 and 2 g/L garlic root, respectively. The optimal conditions for MG removal were established on the basis of orthogonal experiments(OA₁₆ matrix). The concentrations of both MG and garlic root significantly affected the removal efficiency. The acute toxicity test indicated that the treated MG solutions were less toxic than the parent solutions. These results suggest that garlic root is a potential low-cost adsorbent for removing dye from industrial wastewater.