Pseudo Constants for Methyl Red Sorption: A Rate Study of Received and Derived Activated Carbon

Abstract

This effluent remediation research on discoloration tends to disagree with the use of commercial activated carbon as received from manufacturers. Product specification and authentication is a key task to chemists and scientist. Here, Batch kinetic studies via pseudo approximations treatments was adopted to to investigate the rate of Methyl Red (MR) dye solution uptake onto carbon animalis earlier received as Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) and later formulated as Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC). The rate of dye uptake was studied with data fitted in to the Lagergren’s pseudo first and second order kinetic models. Justification by the R2 values (0.984) for GACgreater than 0.865 for PAC, low statistical error (SSE%) range of 1.065 - 2.310 and closeness between the experimented and calculated qe values all favored the second order kinetic model. The deviation of the line from the origin further showed that intra-particle transport is not the only rate limiting step. Generally the research supported the manufacturer’s choice of particle size (as GAC and not PAC) for the chosen adsorbate.