Adsorption Characteristics of Rhodamine B from Aqueous Solution onto Baryte

Batch sorption experiments were carried out for the adsorption of the basic dye Rhodamine B from aqueous solution using baryte as the adsorbent. The effect of adsorbent dosage, temperature, initial dye concentration and pH were studied. Adsorption data were modeled using first and second order kinetic equations and the intra particle diffusion model. Kinetic studies showed that the adsorption process followed second order rate kinetics with an average rate constant of 0.05458 g mg(-1)min(-1). Dye adsorption equilibrium was attained rapidly after 30 min of contact time. The equilibrium data was fitted to the Langmuir, Freundlich and Tempkin isotherms over a dye concentration range of 50-250 mg/L. The adsorption thermodynamic parameters showed that adsorption was an exothermic, spontaneous and less ordered arrangement process. The adsorbent, baryte, was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that baryte has good potential for the removal of Rhodamine B from dilute aqueous solution.