Removal of Methylene Blue from Aqueous Solution by Activated Carbon from Aloe Vera Wastes

Background: Many organic and inorganic pollutants are discharged by various industries into the water bodies. One of the most important pollutants is dye materials that have adverse effects on human health. Objectives: In this study, Aloe Vera wastes-based activated carbon (AV-AC) was used as a low-cost sorbent for the removal of methylene blue (MB) as a textile dye from liquid medium. Methods: The effect of different parameters such as contact time, pH, adsorbent dosage, and initial dye concentration was investigated on the sorption of MB. The experimental data were examined by various kinetic and isotherm models. Results: The equilibrium was obtained at contact time of 40 minutes. Fitting the experimental data to different kinetics and isotherms models indicated that the experimental data were well fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models. Conclusions: The maximum adsorption capacity was 129.87 mg/g. Due to low cost and high uptake capacity, Aloe Vera wastes can be considered as one effective sorbent for removal of MB.