Removal of Methylene Blue from Aqueous Solutions by using Cold Plasma, Microwave Radiation and Formaldehyde Treated Acorn Shell

In this paper, cold plasma (CPTAS), formaldehyde (FTAS), and microwave radiation treated (MTAS) acorn shell obtained from Quercus petraea tree as biosorbent was characterized and its dye removal ability at different dye concentrations was studied. The isoelectric point, functional groups and morphology of acorn shell was investigated as adsorbent surface characteristics. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-Vis spectrophotometry were used. Methylene blue (MB) was used as model cationic dye. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models were applied to describe the equilibrium isotherms. The results indicated that the data for adsorption of MB onto treated acorn shell fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model. Comparison of adsorption capacities of CPTAS with FTAS has shown a significant increase by as much as about 30 mg/g (33.32%) in MB adsorption. The pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order kinetic models were examined to evaluate the kinetic data, and the rate constants were calculated. Adsorption kinetic of dyes followed pseudo-first order kinetics. Thermodynamic parameters such as free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of dye adsorption were obtained. The results indicated that acorn shell could be used as a natural biosorbent for the removal of cationic dyes.