Optimization of dye removal by activated carbon prepared from sawdust

Abstract

Industrial dyes disposal represents one of the major environmental problems. Although the different techniques were used for its removal, the adsorption technique proved to be the most effective. In the current paper, removal of the disperse dye using activated carbon was investigated. The controlling factors of the removal process were studied by experimental design. Initially, the parameters; namely: dye concentration, pH value, etching time, agitation speed, carbon concentration and organic to aqueous solution ratio were screened using Placket Burman design. Then the significant factors resulting from screening design were investigated using full factorial design to find the optimum removal conditions. The results indicated that dye concentration, carbon concentration and organic to aqueous solution ratio are the most significant factors among the screened ones. The complete dye removal can be achieved for low dye concentration, while for high dye concentration, the dye removal depends on the activated carbon concentration where the removal percent ranges from 51.7 up to 97 %.