DefinePK

Abstract

Rubber seed shells (RSS) are seemingly useless and rapidly becoming an agricultural waste. As the industrial world is rapidly developing and becoming technologically advanced in making products, the environment is getting more polluted. The most polluted is the main source of water supply. Waste water treatments are expensive. Rhodamine B (RB) dye is used in all types of industries such as textile, leather, paint, paper, plastics, and etc. Therefore, this project aims to reveal the use of RSS (agricultural waste) as adsorbents for the removal of RB dye. The effect of various parameters such as adsorbent size, adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, contact time, and pH were studied. The study showed that up to 99.52% of RB removal can be achieved under optimum conditions (adsorbent size: 0.063 mm, adsorbent dosage: 3.0 g, initial dye concentration: 100 mg/L, contact time: 24 hours and pH 3). The experimental data were analysed with the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models. The equilibrium data were best described in the Langmuir model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 3.185 mg/g. In conclusion, this study indicated that RSS have the potential to become low-cost adsorbents for the removal of RB dye in waste water treatment.