Non-linear modelling of the adsorption of Indigo Carmine dye from wastewater onto characterized activated carbon/volcanic ash composite

Abstract Over the past couple of years, the resurgence of placing an effective and sustainable amendment to combat against the auxiliary industrial entities like Indigo Carmine (IC), remains a highly contested agenda from a global point. The birth of non-linear modelling for these auxiliary entities is also of significant interest in order to avoid loss of some useful information. With the renaissance of activated carbon (AC), the AC prepared from palm kernel shells (PKSAC) and composite prepared by combining the PKSAC and porous volcanic ash (BVA) from the foot of active volcanic mountain of Cameroon will be of significant contribution for ever increasing pollution problems. Non-linear modelling method was used to model the uptake capacity by adsorption process of IC onto PKSAC and PKSAC/BVA composite. Effects of contact time (0–60 min), adsorbent dose, pH of solution and initial dye concentration (10–20 ppm) were studied on the quantity removal of the hazardous IC dye from aqueous solution in a batch experiment. The prepared PKSAC and PKSAC/BVA composite were characterized using Nitrogen adsorption at 77 K (BET), Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Sacanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X Ray (SEM-EDX), and particle size. The optimum IC uptake was 11.025 and 12.642 mg/g for PKSAC and PKSAC/BVA composites adsorbent respectively. Four Isotherms and kinetic non-linear regression models each were used to model the adsorption data. It results that for the isotherm models, the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models best fitted the adsorption phenomenon while pseudo-first and pseudo-second order kinetic models well described the adsorption mechanism. Furthermore, the adsorption speed constant (α) of the Elovich kinetic model being higher than the desorption coefficient (β) implies chemisorption was the dominant mechanism in the adsorption process. The composite shows 14.67% higher in retention capacity of the IC dye than the pristine carbon. Conclusively, the expanding of activated carbon/volcanic ash composite represents a potentially viable and powerful tool, leading to the plausible improvement of environmental preservation.