Adsorptive Removal of Rhodamine B Dye Using Carbon Graphite/CNT Composites as Adsorbents: Kinetics, Isotherms and Thermodynamic Study

The study of the adsorption efficiency of new carbon/CNT composites was undertaken to remove a cationic dye, Rhodamine B (RhB), from dye-contaminated wastewater. Indeed, we investigated the effect of different experimental parameters such as time, initial concentration of dye and temperature on the adsorption of RhB by the carbon composites (KS44-0 and KS44-20). The results showed that the adsorption uptake increased with the initial concentration and solution temperature while maintaining a relatively constant pH. The presence of the carbon nanotubes provided more active sites for dye removal and improved the adsorption behavior of Rhodamine B dye. The analysis of the experimental data was conducted using model equations, such as Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms. As regards the Freundlich isotherm model, it was the best fit for the equilibrium data obtained from the experiments. The applicability of the pseudo-second-order equation could be explained assuming that the overall adsorption rate is limited by the rate of adsorbate transport that occurs on the pore surfaces of adsorbents. Furthermore, the intraparticle diffusion and Bangham models were used to investigate the diffusion mechanism of RhB absorption onto carbon composites. They showed that multiple adsorption stages occurred simultaneously via pore surface diffusion. Concerning the thermodynamic parameters (∆G°, ∆H°, and ∆S°), they were calculated and explained in the mean of the chemical structure of the adsorbate. Negative standard Gibbs free energy change values (ΔG°_ads) at all temperatures suggested that the adsorption process was spontaneous, and the positive values of the standard enthalpy change of adsorption (∆H°_ads) revealed the reaction to be endothermic. The values of standard enthalpy (ΔH°_ads) and activation energy (E_a) indicated that the adsorption process corresponds to physical sorption. The mechanisms for the removal of Rhodamine B dye from wastewater using carbon composite were predicted. RhB is a planar molecule that is readily adsorbed, in which adsorbed molecules are bound by hydrophobic or other weak interactions due to the π-π interactions between the dyes’ aromatic backbones and the hexagonal skeleton of graphite and carbon nanotubes. Thus, the graphite carbon/carbon nanotube composite is believed to play a major role in organic pollutant reduction.