A comparative study of microwave and chemically treated Acacia nilotica leaf as an eco friendly adsorbent for the removal of rhodamine B dye from aqueous solution

The use of cheap and eco friendly adsorbents prepared from freely and abundantly available Acacia nilotica leaves have been investigated by batch methods. Microwave treated A. nilotica leaves (MVM) are more effective than chemically treated A. nilotica leaves (CVM) for the removal of rhodamine B (RH B) from aqueous solution. The effect of initial pH, contact time and initial dye concentration of RH B onto CVM and MVM has been investigated. The applicability of the linear form of Langmuir model to CVM and MVM was proved by the high correlation coefficients R-2 = 0.9413 and 0.9681 for RH B adsorption. The R-2 values were greater than 0.994 for all RH B concentrations, which indicates the applicability of the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The recycling ability of MVM is greater than CVM. The preparation of MVM does not require an additional chemical treatment step and it attains rapid equilibrium. Hence it is agreeing with the principles of green chemistry and less time is required to possess high adsorption of RH B. Therefore, the eco friendly adsorbent MVM is expected to be environmentally and economically feasible for the removal of RH B from aqueous solutions. (C) 2010 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.