Abstract
The kinetics and equilibrium of the adsorption of Indanthrene Olive Green (IOG) from aqueous solution onto chitosan have been investigated. The chitosan was characterised in terms of its average degree of de-acetylation (DD) and by XRD, TGA/DTG, IR, SEM and specific BET surface area methods. Batch adsorptions experiments were carried out at different pH values and dye concentrations. It was found that the adsorption process was favoured by acidic pH conditions (4.0–6.0). The adsorption followed second-order rate kinetics and the experimental equilibrium data followed the Langmuir isotherm, thereby suggesting that chemisorption might be the major adsorption mode. Such adsorption also occurred on chitosan fibres, although to a significantly lower extent than on crushed chitosan. The corresponding thermodynamic parameters (ΔG0, ΔH0 and ΔS0) were calculated. The positive values obtained for ΔH0 (161.7 kJ/mol) and ΔS0 [559.9 J/(mol K)] suggest that the adsorption process was endothermic, with the randomness of the system increasing during the adsorption process. A simplified adsorption model has also been proposed.
