Environmental Engineering CVEN350

Lab Report # 6
Name of the Experiment:
Adsorption of Methylene Blue on Activated Carbon
Section: L01

Group No. L01-01-04

1. Name of the Student: Abdelrahman Abuhejleh
Student ID: 201208592
2. Name of the Student: Naeem Albeitjali
Student ID: 201203823
3. Name of the Student: Eslaam Eltantawi
Student ID: 201305676
4. Name of the Student: Nezam Altayeh
Student ID: 201300125
5. Name of the Student: Jamal Hannun
Student ID: 201300283

Lab. Instructor: Sikder Md Selimuzzaman Spring 2016

Environmental Engineering CVEN350

Introduction:

Wastewater from textiles, cosmetics, printing, dying, food processing, and paper-making
industries is polluted by dyes. Discharge of these colored effluents presents a major
environmental problem for developing countries because of their toxic and carcinogenic effects
on living beings. Therefore many methods such as activated carbon sorption, chemical
coagulation, ion exchange, electrolysis, and biological treatments, have been developed for
removing dye pollutions from wastewater before being discharged into the environment. Of
these methods, activated carbon sorption is highly effective for the removal of dyes and pigments
as well as other organic and inorganic pollution.

Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions, or molecules from a gas, liquid, or dissolved
solid to a surface. This process creates a film of the adsorb ate on the surface of the adsorbent.
This process differs from absorption, in which a fluid (the absorb ate) permeates or is dissolved
by a liquid or solid (the absorbent).Adsorption is a surface-based process while absorption
involves the whole volume of the material. The term sorption encompasses both processes, while
desorption is the reverse of it. Adsorption is a surface phenomenon. The adsorbent is the
substance that is being removed from the liquid phase at the interface. The adsorbent is solid,
liquid, or gas phase onto which the adsorb ate accumulates. Adsorption process using activated
carbons are widely used to remove pollutants from wastewaters. In this experiment, we will
observe the adsorption of Methylene Blue (MB) on activated carbon.
The adsorption isotherm indicates how the adsorption molecules distribute between the liquid
phase and solid phase, when absorption process reached an equilibrium state. The analysis of the
isotherm data by fitting them to different isotherm models is an important steps to find the
suitable model that can used for design purpose. Adsorption isotherm is basically important to
describe how solutes interact adsorbents and it is critical in optimizing the use of adsorbents.
Adsorption isotherm study is carried out on two well-known isotherms:
1- Langmuir isotherm
2- Freunlich isotherm
Langmuir Isotherm: This can be defined as.

Which can be rewritten as:

Where x/m= mass of adsorbate adsorbed per unit mass of adsorbent, mg adsorbate/g activated carbon.
a, b=empirical constants

Ce=equilibrium concentration of adsorbate in solution after adsorption, mg/l

Lab. Instructor: Sikder Md Selimuzzaman Spring 2016

Environmental Engineering CVEN350
Freundlich Isotherm: This can be defined as.

, can be written as:

Where x/m= mass of adsorbate adsorbed per unit mass of adsorbent, mg adsorbate/g activated carbon.
Kf=Freundlich capacity factor
Ce=equilibrium concentration of adsorbate in solution after adsorption, mg/l
1/n= Freundlich intensity parameter

Objectives:
1. To observe the adsorption of Methylene Blue (MB) on activated carbon.

Equipment and Materials:

 Methylene blue
 Activated carbon (Figure 1)
 Mechanical shaker (Figure 2)
 Spectrophotometer (Figure 3)
 Rubber stopper
Figure 1 - Activated Carbon

Experiment Procedure:
1- Prepare a Methylene Blue (MB) solution with
concentration of 25mg/l.
2- Place 0.00, 0.001, 0.01, 0.0125, 0.025, 0.05, 0.10,
0.25 gram of Activated Carbon (AC) in eight
flasks. Figure 2 - Mechanical shaker

3- Pour 100 ml of Methylene Blue in each flask.

4- Close flasks by using Rubber stopper.
5- Put flasks in mechanical shaker for 72 hours; try to
keep flasks stable.
6- Get the values of absorbance by using
Spectrophotometer.
7- The actual concentration will be obtained by using
the calibrated curve. Figure 3 - Spectrophotometer

Lab. Instructor: Sikder Md Selimuzzaman Spring 2016

Environmental Engineering CVEN350

Data Analysis:
Methylene Blue is used to simulate a water pollutant that absorb light ray, it is a must to
first calibrate the equipment readings to minimize the error of the measurements.

Table 1 Calibration curve for fitting straight line

Nos. Methylene Blue

Absorbance (A)
(C), mg/l

1 1 0.158

2 5 0.867

3 10 1.017

4 25 2.27

5 50 3.969

The spectrum ray absorbed by the liquid containing methylene blue is showed above, it can be
noticed that as the concentration increases the absorbance increase which is logical, as the more
MB which represent a pollutant the less the ray will pass. This is used for calibration of the
readings with initial concentration of 25 mg/l it has Absorbance of 2.27.

Calibration Curve
50
45
40
35
MB (mg/l)

30
25
20
15 y = 13.236x - 3.7216
10 R² = 0.9889
5
0
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 2.25 2.5 2.75 3 3.25 3.5 3.75 4
Absorbent (A)

Ce = a + bA; y = 13.236x - 3.7216; where a = - 3.7216 and b = 13.236.

Lab. Instructor: Sikder Md Selimuzzaman Spring 2016

 Environmental Engineering CVEN350

Isotherm data:
In the Isotherm table the data are Activated Carbon mass & Absorbance, the other
parameters are calculated using the relations showed below. These parameters will help
evaluating the effect of adding AC on the absorbed amount of light by the sample.
Table 2 Isotherm Data

Ce (mg/l) of C0-Ce
C0 (mg/l) m (g) of Absorbance x/m=(C0-Ce)v/m
No. MB according (mg/l) of Ce/(x/m)
of MB AC (A) (mg/g)
to A MB

1 25 0 2.434 28.494824 -3.494824 ∞ 0

2 25 0.001 2.139 24.590204 0.409796 40.9796 0.6000596
3 25 0.005 2.267 26.284412 -1.284412 -25.68824 -1.023208
4 25 0.01 2.028 23.121008 1.878992 18.78992 1.2305006
5 25 0.0125 2.085 23.87546 1.12454 8.99632 2.653914
6 25 0.025 1.818 20.341448 4.658552 18.634208 1.0916186
7 25 0.05 1.527 16.489772 8.510228 17.020456 0.9688208
8 25 0.1 1.108 10.943888 14.056112 14.056112 0.7785857
9 25 0.25 0.636 4.696496 20.303504 8.1214016 0.5782864

Ce = - 3.7216 + 13.236A; ex. No.6, Ce = - 3.7216 + 13.236(1.818) = 20.341448 mg/l of MB.

, where v is 0.1 L, the liquid volume in each one of the 9 flask tested.

ex. No. = 8.12 mg of MB /g of AC.

Co =Initial concentration of MB, 25 mg/l.

Ce= Equilibrium concentration of MB after adsorption, in mg/l.

Notes:
 It is important to note the values shaded in dark gray as they can be considered erroneous and
it is preferred to exclude them, because the absorbance value does not flow the trend required.
Also the values No. 1&3 are more than 2.27 which is the absorbance for the blank sample at
the same concentration of 25mg/l.

Lab. Instructor: Sikder Md Selimuzzaman Spring 2016

Environmental Engineering CVEN350
The table below shows the calculated parameters that will be used for Langmuir & Freundlich
graphs, as follows.

Ce Ce/(x/m) x/m log(Ce) log(x/m)

23.121 1.2305 18.7899 1.36401 1.27392

20.3414 1.0916 18.6342 1.30838 1.27031
16.4898 0.9688 17.0205 1.21721 1.23097
10.9439 0.7786 14.0561 1.03917 1.14787
4.6965 0.5783 8.1214 0.67177 0.90963

Langmuir
1.3
1.2
1.1
Ce/(x/m)

1
0.9
0.8
0.7
y = 0.0347x + 0.4055
0.6
R² = 0.9958
0.5
0 5 10 15 20 25
Ce (mg/l)

; while y = 0.0347x + 0.4055, where a = 28.82 and b = 0.0856.

Lab. Instructor: Sikder Md Selimuzzaman Spring 2016

Environmental Engineering CVEN350

Freundlich
1.3

1.25

1.2

1.15
log(x/m)

1.1

1.05

1 y = 0.5408x + 0.5608
0.95 R² = 0.9829
0.9
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4
log(Ce)

Where Freundlich Isotherm, log(x/m) = logKf + 1/n logCe

Using the relation obtained from the graph y = 0.5408x + 0.5608; the values of Kf & n
are determined.
Kf = 3.64; n = 1.85;

Notes:
 It can be concluded from the previous graphs and calculations results that increasing the
amount of Activated carbon reduces the concentration of methylene blue reducing the
absorbed ray.
 It is also important to note that this process is purely physical as pollutant stuck between the
tiny pours of activated carbon.

Lab. Instructor: Sikder Md Selimuzzaman Spring 2016

Environmental Engineering CVEN350

Conclusion:
To sum up, adsorption method measures the amount of energy such as, ( photons of light
pass through the sample and wavelength adsorbed) a detector counts the wavelength by passing
alight through the sample and after that compare it with light produced before transmitted
through the flasks. Then integrate changes in the wavelength at final stage of the process, the
amount of carbon added to the eight samples varies from 0 gram to 0.1 gram in order to notice
the differences after calibrating the diagram. For this process content of the solid waste is known
and wavelength must be measured after 48 hours of centrifugal process occur “hint” (we use
cyclone to remove dust only the group used the filter bags to make sure nothing will slip from
the flasks and will help to let the particles to be collected at the bottom of the filter bags). To
make sure the solids completely distributed along the eight samples. Moreover, the detector will
measure only the energy emitted at the wavelength. Furthermore, as concentration of the target
atom in the sample increases adsorption also increases in directly proportional relationship.
Finally after recording the corresponding degree of adsorption which is inverse percentage of
light transmitted a straight line can be drawn between all points.

Lab. Instructor: Sikder Md Selimuzzaman Spring 2016