Sequestration of toxic congo red dye from aqueous solution using ecofriendly guar gum/ activated carbon nanocomposite.

In the present study, a potential Guar gum/activated carbon nanocomposite as an adsorbent was synthesized and utilized for the sequestration of toxic congo red dye from synthetic wastewater. The nanocomposite was charac-terized using different techniques such as SEM, EDX, TEM, FTIR and XRD. Various physico-chemical parameters such as influence of contact time, pH, adsorbent dose, temperature and initial dye concentration were investi-gated to optimize conditions for maximum adsorption of congo red. Equilibrium data fitted well with Langmuir isotherm model having maximum adsorption capacity of 831.82 mg g(-1) at 313 K. The kinetic studies demon-strated that the adsorption followed a pseudo-second order kinetic model. The thermodynamic study showed that the adsorption of congo red onto nanocomposite was spontaneous, exothermic with decreased in random-ness at solid/liquid interface. The regeneration study indicated that the nanocomposite could be reused success-fully upto five consecutive cycles. Therefore, the present material can be effectively and efficiently urilized for the removal of congo red dye from aqueous solution as well as industrial wastewater. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.