Adsorptive Removal of Acid Blue 80 Dye from Aqueous Solutions by Cu-TiO2

The adsorption performance of a Cu-TiO2 composite for removing acid blue 80 (AB80) dye from aqueous solutions was investigated in terms of kinetics, equilibrium, and thermodynamics. The effect of operating variables, such as solution pH, initial dye concentration, contact time, and temperature, on AB80 adsorption was studied in batch experiments. AB80 adsorption increased with increasing contact time, initial dye concentration, and temperature and with decreasing solution pH. Modeling of adsorption kinetics showed good agreement of experimental data with the pseudo-second-order kinetics model. The experimental equilibrium data for AB80 adsorption were evaluated for compliance with different two-parameter, three-parameter, and four-parameter isotherm models. The Langmuir isotherm model best described the AB80 adsorption equilibrium data. The thermodynamic data revealed that the AB80 adsorption process was endothermic and nonspontaneous. Kinetics, equilibrium, and thermodynamic results indicate that Cu-TiO2 adsorbs AB80 by a chemical sorption reaction.