Phenomenological modeling of reactive dye adsorption onto fish scales surface in the presence of electrolyte and surfactant mixtures

ABSTRACTThe aim of this work was an experimental and theoretical investigation of the influence of electrolyte (NaCl) and surfactant (SP), as textile auxiliary agents (TAAs), onto reactive blue 5G (RB5G) dye removal by applying untreated fish scales (FS) in batch system. Kinetic and equilibrium studies were performed, aiming at the comprehension of the mass transfer mechanisms through phenomenological modeling. The biosorbent was texturally characterized, to investigate the adsorbent’s characteristics and to support the models’ assumptions. Hence, a ‘physically meaningful’ modeling to assess different systems containing dye-TAA mixtures was employed. The experimental results indicated that despite the FS nonporous characteristics, it showed remarkable adsorption capacities (≈291 mg g−1), which may be ascribed to the adsorbent–adsorbate affinity and to dye-aggregates adsorption onto the FS surface. Those results evidence a potential use of FS as an alternative biosorbent material. The mathematical model wa...