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REMOVAL OF COLOUR FROM WASTEWATER USING LOCALLY AVAILABLE
CHARCOAL
Conference Paper · February 2014
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Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development
(ICCESD-2014), 14~16 February 2014, KUET, Khulna, Bangladesh, ISBN: 978-984-33-6373-2 (CD-Rom)
REMOVAL OF COLOUR FROM WASTEWATER USING LOCALLY AVAILABLE
CHARCOAL
Md. Niamul Bari1 , Mst. Sulekha Khatun2, H.M. Rasel1 and Fatema Khatun3,
Department of Civil Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology
*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: niamulbari@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Adsorption technique is used for the effective removal of dyes. Because of the high cost of some conventional
adsorbents, locally available Charcoal is used as adsorbent in this study. The aim of this study is to investigate
the use of Charcoal as an alternative adsorbent for the removal of dyes present in textile effluents. One-factorat-a time (OFAT) method is used for the experimental design considering three independent parameters viz.,
particle size, particle dose and shaking time. The particle size of charcoal is varying from 0.075 to 1.8 mm. The
charcoal doses are 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mg/100 ml of methylene blue solution are used and centrifuged at 10000
rpm for 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 minutes. The results show that the effective particle size of charcoal is 0.3 to 0.6 mm
and the charcoal dose is 6 mg/100 ml and the mixing time is 15 minutes for the 100% removal of colour having
methylene blue concentration of 10 mg/l.
Keywords: charcoal, colour removal, local absorbent, optimum dose, particle size.
1. Introduction
The world-wide high level of production and use of dyes generates colored wastewater, which give
cause of environmental concern. Almost every industry uses colouring matter to colour their products.
Of various pollutants contained in industrial wastewater, colour is considered to be very important
from the aesthetic point of view and is stated as visible pollutant. Textile companies, dye
manufacturing industries, paper and pulp mills, tanneries, electroplating factories, distilleries food
companies and a host of other industries discharge colored wastewater which are released into nearby
land or rivers without any treatment (Amin, et al., 2008). Textile processes produce multi component
wastewater which can be difficult to treat (Jaya and Arumai, 2008). This wastewater can cause serious
environmental problems due to their high color, large amount of suspended solids, and high chemical
oxygen demand (Jaya and Arumai, 2008). Discharging of color or dyes into water resources even in a
small amount can affect the aquatic life and the food web. Dyes can also cause allergic dermatitis and
skin irritation and may lead to carcinogenic and other disorders.
The methods of color removal from industrial effluents include biological treatment, coagulation,
adsorption, chemical oxidation, hyper filtration and reverse osmosis are generally not feasible due to
economic considerations. Moreover, the conventional methods of sewage treatment, such as primary
and secondary treatment systems are not suitable for the treatment of effluents containing dye
molecules because these molecules are very complex in nature and are stable to heat and light. Nowa-days, there are more than 10,000 dyes available commercially (Nigam, et al., 2000), most of which
are not easy to biodegrade because of their stability toward light and oxidation; also these dyes are
resistant to aerobic digestion (Gupta, et al., 2003) due to their complex aromatic molecular structure
and synthetic origin (Seshdari, et al., 1994). Adsorption is an effective method of lowering the
concentration of dissolved dyes in the effluent resulting in color removal. The process of adsorption
has an edge over the other methods due to it sludge free clean operation and complete removal of dyes
even from dilute solution (Malik, 2003).
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The most efficient and commonly used adsorbent is commercially activated carbon which is expensive and
has re-generation problem. Therefore, development of low cost alternative adsorbent has been the focus of
recent research. Various adsorbents have been tried for the removal of different types of synthetic dyes.
Perhaps, activated carbon is the most widely used adsorbent because of its extended surface area,
microporous structure, high adsorption capacity and high degree of reactivity. However, commercially
available activated carbons are very expensive (Malik, 2003).
Consequently, the high cost of the activated carbon, coupled with the problems associated with
regeneration, has necessitated the search for alternate adsorbents. A wide variety of low cost materials
such as agricultural by product (Kadirvelu et al., 2000), waste coir pith (Namasivayam et al., 2001),
Indian rosewood sawdust (Garg et al., 2004), pine sawdust (Özacar and Şengil, 2005), banana pith
(Namasivayam et al., 1998), rice husk (Lee, et al., 1999), orange peel (Namasivayam et al., 1996) and
pea shells charcoal (Sumanjit et al., 2007) are used as low cost alternatives to activated carbon. The
present study investigates the adsorption methods to remove dyes from effluent using cheaper source
of adsorbent, namely charcoal, which is locally available in plenty in Bangladesh.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Collection and preparation of adsorbents
In this study, locally available charcoal is used as adsorbent. The locally available charcoal was
collected and ground in different finer particle. The charcoal particles are graded using sieve and
preserved in the closed container for subsequent use. The particle sizes used for the experiment are
shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Particle Sizes of Charcoal Samples
Sample no.
1
2
3
4
5
2.2. Preparation of dye solution
Sieve no.
Particle sizes
16
30
50
100
200
1-1.8 mm
0.6 – 1 mm
0.3 – 0.6 mm
0.15 – 0.3 mm
0.075 – 0.15 mm
Methylene blue is a heterocyclic aromatic chemical compound with molecular formula: C16 H18ClN3S.
It was chosen because of its known strong adsorption onto solids and widely use in dying industry.
The dye is regarded as acutely toxic, but it can have various harmful effects. Methylene blue (LOBA
Company, India) was collected from commercial market. The stock solution of dye was prepared by
dissolving 10 mg of methylene blue in 1000 ml of distilled water.
2.3. Experimental Procedure
The Spectrophotometer was used for the determination of methylene blue removal from aqueous
solution by measuring optical density. Removal of colour of methylene blue is determined by
comparing the optical density of treated sample with the optical density of aqueous solution of
methylene blue. Colour removal is expressed in percentage.
One-factor-at-a time (OFAT) method is used for the experimental design considering three
independent parameters viz., particle size, particle dose and shaking time. The particle sizes of
charcoal shown in Table 1 are used in different doses are 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mg/100 ml of methylene
blue solution for each charcoal sample. The dye solutions with charcoal doses are kept for 24 hours
for soaking. The soaked samples are centrifuged at 10000 rpm (Khadijah, et al., 2009) for 3, 6, 9, 12
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Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development
and 15 minutes for each sample of each dose. After centrifuging the solution is filtered with Whatman
Number 1 filter paper and optical density of supernatant is measured with UV/VIS spectrophotometer
at 225 nm (Rita and Rattan, 2009). Figure 1 shows the experimental process.
Figure 1: Sample preparation, centrifuging and filtration of sample
3. Results and Discussions
Charcoal of five different particle sizes is used as absorbent of methylene blue for aqueous solution.
The doses of each charcoal sample were varied as 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mg/100 of methylene blue
solution. The mixing time is also varied for every dose of each charcoal sample of 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15
minutes. All experiments are conducted in triplicate. The colour removal results in terms of
percentage for each experiment are presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Removal of Color from Methylene Blue Solution
Sample
Sample-1
(1-1.8 mm)
Sample-2
(0.6-1mm)
Sample-3
(0.3-0.6 mm)
Sample-4
(0.15-0.3 mm)
Sample-5
(0.075-0.15 mm)
Mixing time
(min)
3
6
9
12
15
3
6
9
12
15
3
6
9
12
15
3
6
9
12
15
3
6
9
12
15
2
42
60
64
69
76
15
34
40
47
66
92
93
94
94
99
68
78
78
72
99
51
52
65
70
76
4
35
52
63
82
83
11
20
20
64
65
88
91
94
98
99
63
64
68
72
72
54
56
57
63
88
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Dose (mg/100 ml)
6
21
47
58
72
88
27
28
63
65
74
93
98
98
99
100
65
65
67
74
91
47
52
56
82
89
8
22
31
51
52
85
21
23
56
57
57
95
97
98
98
98
64
69
75
76
80
32
56
67
72
73
10
18
26
28
45
67
21
43
54
68
81
95
96
98
98
98
47
48
59
66
73
36
48
64
66
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Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development
3.1. Effect of mixing time
The effect of mixing time on colour removal with five charcoal samples of different particle sizes are
examined and the trends of colour removal with mixing time for each sample are presented in Figure
2 to 6. The charcoal doses of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 mg per 100 ml of methylene blue solution (10 gm/L)
are used for each charcoal sample.
Colour removal (%).
100
Sample-1
80
60
40
2mg/100ml
4mg/100ml
6mg/100ml
8mg/100ml
10mg/100ml
20
0
0
3
6
9
12
Mixing time (min)
15
18
Figure 2: Colour removal with mixing time for charcoal sample-1
100
Colour removal (%).
Sample-2
80
60
40
2 mg/100 ml
4 mg/100 ml
6 mg/100 ml
8 mg/100 ml
10 mg/100 ml
20
0
0
3
6
9
12
Mixing time (min)
15
Figure 3: Colour removal with mixing time for charcoal sample-2
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Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development
110
Colour removal (%).
Sample-3
100
2 mg/100 ml
4 mg/100 ml
6 mg/100 ml
8 mg/100 ml
10 mg/100 ml
90
80
0
3
6
9
12
Mixing time (min)
15
18
Figure 4: Colour removal with mixing time for charcoal sample-3
Colour removal (%).
100
Sample-4
80
2 mg/100 ml
4 mg/100 ml
6 mg/100 ml
8 mg/100 ml
10 mg/100 ml
60
40
0
3
6
9
12
Mixing time (min)
15
18
Figure 5: Colour removal with mixing time for charcoal sample-4
Colour removal (%).
100
Sample-5
80
60
2mg/100ml
4mg/100ml
6mg/100ml
8mg/100ml
10mg/100ml
40
20
0
3
6
9
12
Mixing time (min)
15
Figure 6: Colour removal with mixing time for charcoal sample-5
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Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development
From the Figure 2 to 6 show the similar trend of colour removal with respect to mixing time. The
removal of colour was increased with the increase of mixing time. However, the removal trends for
every charcoal sample that are observed from the figures are not linear with time. The reason of this
non linearity of colour removal might be determined by the kinetic study of the experiment.
Moreover, the highest colour removal was obtained at 15 minutes mixing time for all samples of
every dose.
3.2. Effect of particle size
Locally available five charcoal samples with different particle sizes (Sample-1, 1 to 1.8 mm; Sample2, 0.6 to 1 mm; Sample-3, 0.3 to 0.6 mm; Sample-4, 0.15 to 0.3 mm and Sample-5, 0.075 to 0.15 mm)
are used as absorbent for the removal of colour from the aqueous solution of methylene blue with the
concentration of 10 mg/L. The previous experiment shows that the maximum removal of colour is
obtained at the mixing time of 15 minutes. Therefore, the effect of particle size of charcoal on colour
removal is presented for 15 minutes mixing time in Figure 7.
The Figure 7 shows that nature of colour removal by different charcoal samples with various particle
sizes. The highest removal of colour from methylene blue aqueous solution is obtained to be for the
Sample-3 with the particle sizes varying within 0.3 to 0.6 mm. The total removal of colour is achieved
with the charcoal sample having particle size within 0.3 to 0.6 mm.
Colour removal (%).
110
100
90
80
70
2mg/100ml
4mg/100ml
6mg/100ml
8mg/100ml
10mg/100ml
60
50
40
0
1
2
3
Sample
4
5
6
Figure 7: The effect of particle size of charcoal on colour removal
3.3. Effect of adsorbent dose
The highest removal of colour from methylene blue solution is obtained against the charcoal dose of 6
mg/100 ml for all samples except Sample-2. The highest removal efficiency (100%) is observed for
Sample-3 with dose of 6 mg/100 ml. Furthermore, the highest removal is obtained for Sample-3 in
any doses of charcoal compared to the other samples. The colour removal efficiency is presented in
Figure 8.
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Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development
Colour removal (%).
110
100
90
80
70
60
Sample-1
Sample-4
50
40
0
2
Sample-2
Sample-5
4
6
8
Charcoal dose (mg/100ml)
Sample-3
10
12
Figure 8: The effect of absorbent dose on colour removal
4. Conclusions
It is observed from the experiment that the efficiency of colour removal varies with the variation of
adsorbent particle size, adsorbent dose and mixing time. The experimental results show that the
effective particle size of charcoal for using as absorbent of methylene blue is varying from 0.3 to 0.6
mm. For the total removal of colour, the charcoal dose to be 6 mg/100 ml and the mixing time is 15
minutes. It is evident that the locally available charcoal is effective in removal of methylene blue and
can provide an economical solution for removal of such colour from the aqueous solution. From 74 to
100 % colour removal efficiency can be achieved having methylene blue concentration of 10 mg/l for
any size of charcoal particle. The locally available charcoal can be proved as good, effective and eco
friendly adsorbent.
5. References
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from sugarcane bagasse pith, Desalination, 223, 152-161, 2008.
Garg VK, Kumar R, Gupta R, Removal of malachite green dye from aqueous solution by adsorption
using agro-industry waste, a case study of Prosopis cineraria, J Dyes and Pigments, 62, 1-10,
2004.
Gupta VK, Ali I and Mohan D, J. Colloid Interface Science, 265, 257, 2003.
Jaya Paul and Arumai Dhas, Study on removal of COD and colour from textile wastewater using
limestone and activated carbon, MSc Thesis, University Sains Malaysia, 2008.
Kadirvelu K, Palonival M, Kalpana R, Rajeswari S, Activated carbon from an agricultural byproduct,
for the treatment of dyeing industry wastewate, Bioresource Technology, 74, 263-265, 2000.
Khadijah O, Lee KK and Mohd Faiz F, Abdullah, Isolation, screening and development of local
bacterial consortia with azo dyes decolourising capability, Malaysian Journal of Microbiology,
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Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering for Sustainable Development
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