Adsorption kinetics of Rhodamine-B on used black tea leaves

Rhodamine B (Rh-B) is one of the most common pollutants in the effluents of textile industries effluents in developing countries. This study was carried out to evaluate the applicability of used black tea leaves (UBTL) for the adsorptive removal of Rh-B from aqueous system by investigating the adsorption kinetics in batch process. The effects of concentration and temperature on adsorption kinetics were examined. First-, second- and pseudo-second order kinetic equations were used to investigate the adsorption mechanism. The adsorption of Rh-B on UBTL followed pseudo-second order kinetics. The equilibrium amount adsorbed and the equilibrium concentration were calculated from pseudo-second-order kinetic plots for different initial concentrations of Rh-B to construct the adsorption isotherm. The adsorption isotherm was well expressed by Langmuir equation. The maximum adsorption capacity of UBTL to Rh-B was found to be 53.2 mg/g at pH = 2.0. The equilibrium amount adsorbed, calculated from pseudo-second-order kinetic plots, increased with temperature increase. The positive value of enthalpy of adsorption, ΔH(ads) = 31.22 kJ/mol, suggested that the adsorption of Rh-B on UBTL at pH = 2.0 is an endothermic process.