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Journal of Hazardous Materials 149 (2007) 735–741

Removal of an anionic dye by adsorption/precipitation processes

using alkaline white mud
Mao-Xu Zhu ∗ , Li Lee, Hai-Hua Wang, Zheng Wang
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, PR China
Received 2 March 2006; received in revised form 29 August 2006; accepted 14 April 2007
Available online 20 April 2007

Abstract
Alkaline white mud (AWM) has been investigated as a low-cost material for removal of an anionic dye, acid blue 80. The effects of contact time,
initial pH of dye solution, AWM dosage, and the presence of inorganic anion sulphate or phosphate ion on removal of the dye were evaluated.
The results show that AWM could be used as an effective material for removal of acid blue 80 in a pre or main process, particularly at high dye
concentration (>300 mg L−1 ), reaching maximum removal efficiency of 95%. At low dye concentration, surface adsorption is mainly responsible
for the dye removal, while chemical precipitation of the dye anions with soluble Ca2+ and Mg2+ may play a dominant role for the dye removal at
high concentration, producing much less sludge than conventional adsorption method. Solution pH has only a limited effect on the dye removal
due to high alkalinity and large pH buffer capacity of AWM suspension and thereby pH is not a limiting factor in pursuing high dye removal.
The presence of SO4 2− could reduce the dye removal by AWM only when SO4 2− concentration is beyond 0.7 mmol L−1 . The dye removal may be
significantly suppressed by the presence of phosphate with increasing concentration, and the reduction in the dye removal is much larger at high
dye concentrations than at low ones.
© 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Alkaline white mud; Anionic dye; Adsorption; Chemical precipitation; Wastewater treatment

1. Introduction dyes are poorly biodegradable due to their complex structure

and xenobiotic properties [9]. Moreover, many dyes are toxic to
The wide use of synthetic dyes in dyeing, paper and pulp, microorganisms, causing direct destruction or inhibition of their
textile, and other industrial applications has caused large-scale catalytic capabilities [10]. Reverse osmosis and electrochem-
development of dye industries, and consequently has produced ical coagulation are complex and generally not feasible on a
large volume of dye wastewaters [1]. Dye wastewater is char- large-scale due to economic consideration. Advanced oxidation
acteristically high in organic content, high salt content and low processes (H2 O2 /UV, O3 ) have the potential to eliminate organic
in biodegradation [2]. Direct discharge of dye effluents from carbon of dye wastewater; however, they are too expensive and
these industries may cause serious problems to the environment complex apart from being effective only for very low dye con-
because they contribute organic load and toxicity to the environ- centrations [11,12]. Chemical coagulation for dye removal needs
ment and are the source of aesthetic pollution related to colour loading of chemical coagulant, and optimal operation conditions
[2,3]. In addition, coloration of water by the dyes may impede such as pH and coagulant dosage should be rigidly remained in
light penetration, thus affecting aquatic ecosystems [4]. Hence, order to achieve a maximum dye removal [2,3,13]. Adsorption
colour elimination from dye effluents is one of several major removal is an effective and simple method for dye treatment
environmental concerns. Traditionally, biological, physical and but usually produces large amount of sludge especially for
chemical methods have been tested for dye removal [5–8]. Bio- wastewaters with high dye concentration. Adsorption of dyes
logical process is probably the most inexpensive one but many on various adsorbents have been extensively investigated and
activated carbon has proved the most effective because of its
high specific surface area, high adsorption capacity and low
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 532 82032482; fax: +86 532 82032483. selectivity for both ionic and nonionic dyes [5,14–16]. Unfortu-
E-mail address: zhumaoxu@ouc.edu.cn (M.-X. Zhu). nately, activated carbon adsorption is an expensive method due

0304-3894/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2007.04.037
736 M.-X. Zhu et al. / Journal of Hazardous Materials 149 (2007) 735–741

to its high price and the difficulties involved in its regenera- Table 2
tion for reuse. In recent years, many synthetic adsorbent such Grain size distribution of alkaline white mud (AWM)
as hydrotalcite, low-cost and easily obtainable natural materials Grain size (␮m) Percentage (%)
such as montmorillonite, zeolite and pyrophyllite, biomateri- <1.6 49.8
als produced from agricultural by-products, and industrial solid 1.6–3.4 32.9
wastes such as fly ash, as adsorbents have been tested for pollu- >3.4 17.3
tant removal [17–22]. Those studies indicated that the sorption
capacity of most low-cost materials is much less effective than
that of activated carbon. Therefore, large amount of loading of natant separated from the suspension above are 4.46 mmol L−1
those materials is usually needed for colour removal particularly and 0.447 mmol L−1 , respectively, as determined using the
in the case of high dye concentration, consequently producing standard complexometric titration method [23]. Acid blue 80
large volume of sludge. To our knowledge, no individual treat- (purity > 99%) was provided by the Qingdao Shuangtao dyestuff
ment technique alone is efficient enough to completely remove factory and used without further purification. The chemical
dye from wastewaters because of varying physicochemical con- structure of the dye is shown in Fig. 1. Dye solution was pre-
ditions of dye effluents. Effort has been tried to combine two pared by dissolving acid blue 80 in deionized water and adjusted
or more treatment techniques such as activated carbon adsorp- using dilute HCl or NaOH solutions to obtain desired pH values
tion/chemical coagulation to overcome the disadvantages of of the dye solutions.
individual unit operation and enhance the overall treatment
performance [2,3]. Effort is still going on to seek alternative 2.2. Dye removal
materials for dye removal with high efficiency and low cost, yet
producing low volume of sludge. Experiments of the dye removal were conducted using a batch
Alkaline white mud (AWM) is fine-sized solid waste in alkali method by adding dried AWM into 100 mL conical beakers con-
manufacturing, characterized of high water content, high alka- taining 25 mL dye solutions of varying concentrations (typically
linity and high concentrations of soluble Ca2+ , Mg2+ and Cl− ranging from 50 to 500 mg L−1 ). 0.1 g AWM was used in the
ions. In this study, AWM is tested as a low-cost material for experiments, unless otherwise stated. After capping and vig-
removal of acid blue 80, a commonly used anionic dye in the orously shaking by hand, the conical beakers were placed in
textile industry, from synthetic dye wastewaters. a water bath at 27 ◦ C and gently shaken for specific periods
of time from 30 min to 18 h. The suspensions were then cen-
2. Materials and methods trifuged and filtered (0.45 ␮m) and pH values of the filtrates
were measured immediately after filtration. Dye concentrations
2.1. Alkaline white mud sample were determined using a Hewlett-Packard 8453 UV–VIS spec-
trophotometer at λmax = 627 nm. Amounts of the dye removal
Alkaline white mud collected from the Qingdao chemical fac- were determined by difference. Effects of contact time, ini-
tory was dried at 110 ◦ C overnight and ground to pass through tial pH (2.8–11.5) of the dye solutions, dye concentration
a 100 mesh sieve for use. Main constituents of the AWM are (50–500 mg L−1 ) and AWM dosage (2–40 g L−1 ) used on the
given in Table 1. Densities of wet AWM (containing water dye removal were investigated. Efficiency η(%) for the dye
50–60% by weight) and those after dried are 1160–1200 kg m−3 removal is defined as:
and 2710 kg m−3 , respectively. Surface area and average pore C0 − Ct
diameter of the AWM are 68 m2 g−1 and 5.4 nm, respectively, η(%) = × 100%
C0
as determined using the BET method. Grain size distribution
of the AWM is shown in Table 2. As can be seen, more than where C0 (mg L−1 ) is initial concentration of acid blue 80 and
80% of the fine particles is less than 3.4 ␮m in diameter. pH Ct (mg L−1 ) concentration of the dye at time t.
of AWM suspension (1.0 g dried AWM in 250 mL deionized
water) is 10.8 and the concentrations of Ca2+ and Mg2+ in super-

Table 1
Chemical constituents of alkaline white mud (AWM)
Constituent Percentage by weight (%)

CaCO3 45.38
CaSO4 12.10
Mg(OH)2 9.04
Fe2 O3 1.08
AL2 O3 3.2
SiO2 9.09
CaO 4.09
CaC12 10.23
NaC1 2.36
Fig. 1. Chemical structure of acid blue 80.
 M.-X. Zhu et al. / Journal of Hazardous Materials 149 (2007) 735–741 737

In order to evaluate the contribution of soluble components

in AWM suspension to colour elimination, removal of the dye
was determined in mixing systems of dye and AWM super-
natants. The supernatants were separated from AWM suspension
(1.0 g AWM in 125 mL deionized water) by centrifugation and
filtration (0.45 ␮m) after equilibrium for 3 h. After the mix-
ing of 10 mL of the supernatants and 10 mL of dye solutions
(50–500 mg L−1 ), the mixing solutions were allowed to stand
for 6 h in a water bath at 27 ◦ C and then centrifuged and filtered.
The concentrations of dye in filtrates were determined using the
same method described above.
In order to glean information about the mechanism of chem-
ical precipitation for removal of the dye, effects of Ca2+ and
Mg2+ on removal of the dye were investigated by addition of
CaCl2 and MgCl2 solutions of varying concentrations to the
Fig. 3. Comparison of removal of acid blue 80 by alkaline whit mud (AWM)
dye–AWM systems. Inorganic anions such as SO4 2− , PO4 3− suspension and that by supernatant separated from AWM.
and Cl− ions are often found in dye effluents. In this study,
sulphate and phosphate anions were chosen to evaluate their
effects on removal of the dye. Sodium sulphate (Na2 SO4 ) icant effect on the equilibrium time. Thus, 6 h contact time was
and sodium dihydrogenphosphate (NaH2 PO4 ) were used as chosen in subsequent batch equilibrium experiments.
the sources of sulphate and phosphate anions, respectively.
Aliquots of 0.1 g dried AWM were weighted into 100 mL conical 3.2. Effect of dye concentration
beakers containing 25 mL dye solutions of constant concentra-
tions (three concentration levels: 50, 100 and 400 mg L−1 ) but The effects of initial dye concentration on removal of the
varying Ca2+ (0–8 mmol L−1 ), Mg2+ (0–8 mmol L−1 ), SO4 2− dye by AWM suspensions and supernatants separated from the
(0.35–3.5 mmol L−1 ) or PO4 3− (1.6–16 mmol L−1 ) concentra- suspensions are shown in Fig. 3. For the suspension system,
tions for each level of dye concentration. After shaking in a the dye removal decreased down to a minimum when the ini-
water bath at 27 ◦ C for 6 h, the suspensions were then cen- tial concentration of dye was increased up to about 300 mg L−1 ,
trifuged and filtered. The concentrations of dye in filtrates were after which an abrupt increase in the dye removal was followed
determined. from 40 to 92%, but further increase in the dye removal was
All the experiments were run in duplicate and all the data not observed when initial dye concentration was continuously
presented were the mean of duplicate analysis. increased. At a low initial dye concentration (<300 mg L−1 ),
the dye removal could be attributed mainly to surface adsorp-
3. Results and discussion tion mechanism. Therefore, the dye removal decreases with
increasing concentration of the dye because the total number
3.1. Effect of contact time on dye removal of sorption sites available is constant. The isotherm data for the
dye removal at low concentration range (20–250 mg L−1 ) could
The effect of contact time on removal of the dye is shown be well described using the Freundlich isotherm (Fig. 4), indi-
in Fig. 2. The removal increased quickly within the initial 3 h cating chemical heterogeneity of the sorption sites [24]. The
and remained almost unchanged after 6 h, indicating reaching Freundlich equation can be described as:
an apparent equilibrium. Initial dye concentration had no signif-
Qe = KCen or log Qe = log K + n log Ce

Fig. 2. Effect of contact time on removal of acid blue 80 by alkaline white mud Fig. 4. Freundlich isotherm for adsorption of acid blue 80 at low initial concen-
(AWM). trations (20–250 mg L−1 ), equilibrium pH 10.8 ± 0.02.
738 M.-X. Zhu et al. / Journal of Hazardous Materials 149 (2007) 735–741

where Qe (mg g−1 ) is the amount of acid blue 80 adsorbed at

equilibrium, Ce (mg L−1 ) is equilibrium concentration of the
dye in solution, and K, n are empirical constants. The cal-
culated K and n were 4.107 and 0.3839, respectively, from
the adsorption isotherm data. At a high initial dye concentra-
tion (>300 mg L−1 ), on the other hand, an abrupt increase in
the dye removal is probably due mainly to chemical precipita-
tion process, which was confirmed by a similar pattern of the
dye removal in supernatants separated from AWM suspensions.
As shown in Fig. 3, when initial dye concentration was low
(<300 mg L−1 ), the removal of dye from the supernatants was
below 20%, much less than that from the suspension. An abrupt
Fig. 5. Effect of alkaline white mud (AWM) dosage loaded on removal of acid
increase in the dye removal in the supernatants was also observed
blue 80 by alkaline white mud (AWM).
when the concentrations of dye were up to about 300 mg L−1 .
The abrupt increase is expected to be the result of chemical pre-
cipitation. As a matter of fact, precipitat was observed at the dependent on AWM dose used with an increase in dye concen-
bottom of conical beakers in the dye–supernatant systems. A tration in the range of 20–200 mg L−1 ; for dye concentration of
further increase in the dye removal was slight when dye con- 400 mg L−1 , however, the dye removal is much less dependent
centration was continuously enhanced above 350 mg L−1 . By on AWM dosage. The results reconfirmed the different mecha-
comparing the dye removal by AWM suspensions with that by nisms for the dye removal at low and high dye concentrations
the corresponding supernatants, it is clear that, at high initial discussed in Section 3.2. For surface sorption mechanism at a
concentration of dye (>300 mg L−1 ), the dye removal from the low dye concentration (<300 mg L−1 ), sorption sites available
supernatants could account for most portion of the total removal for sorption increase with an increase in AWM dose used, result-
from the suspension system. The above facts suggest that sur- ing in an increase in the dye removal. For chemical precipitation
face sorption is the main mechanism for the dye removal at low mechanism at a high dye concentration (>300 mg L−1 ), how-
dye concentrations, while chemical precipitation is the domi- ever, soluble Ca2+ and Mg2+ played a critical role in the dye
nant mechanism at high dye concentrations (>300 mg L−1 ) with removal, which is believed to result in a weak dependency of
minor contribution from surface sorption. At a high dye con- the dye removal on AWM dosage. It implies that AWM is much
centration, precipitation of the dye anions with soluble Ca2+ more efficient for the dye removal at high dye concentration than
and Mg2+ in AWM suspensions is expected to occur, which at low one based on per gram of dry AWM used, and thereby
then built conglomerates and floccules. In this process, precipi- producing less sludge based on per gram of the dye removal. It
tate may have scavenged a fraction of the dye molecules, which is estimated that, to treat 1 t wastewater of high dye concentra-
could improve the dye removal to some extent. At a low dye con- tions (e.g. 400–450 mg L−1 ) with an efficiency above 90%, ca
centration, chemical precipitation, if any, played only a minor 6 kg dry AWM is needed. For wastewater treatment with low
role in the dye removal due probably to low supersaturation dye concentration (<300 mg L−1 ), however, a similar amount
and/or relatively slow kinetic rate of precipitate formation. It of the AWM (6 kg) is only capable of treating dye wastewater
deserves noting that a limited increase in the dye removal with with concentrations less than 50 mg L−1 , and a much larger vol-
increasing dye concentration from 350 to 500 mg L−1 implies ume of sludge will be produced for treatment of the dye with
that soluble Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations are high enough for concentrations between 50 and 300 mg L−1 .
dye precipitation in the experimental system, because, if the case It is expected that both surface sorption sites and concentra-
is the opposite, a consumption of soluble Ca2+ and Mg2+ through tions of soluble Ca2+ and Mg2+ in suspensions increase with
chemical precipitation would have obviously suppressed the dye an increase in AWM dose used. However, the increase in con-
removal with an increase in initial dye concentrations. We may centration of Ca2+ and Mg2+ when AWM dose was increased
conclude that AWM could be used to treat anionic dye wastew- (>15 g L−1 ) seemingly did not improve the dye removal signifi-
ater of high concentration in a pre or main step, producing much cantly (Fig. 5), which was verified by another test. An addition
less sludge through adsorption/precipitation mechanism than of CaCl2 or MgCl2 salts of different concentrations to the
using conventional adsorption technique. dye–AWM suspensions did not significantly enhance the dye
removal (Fig. 6a and b). This implies that the concentration of
3.3. Effect of AWM dosage soluble Ca2+ and Mg2+ in AWM suspensions is high enough for
dye anion precipitation when AWM amount used is beyond a
The effect of AWM dosage on removal of the dye is shown in certain value, and thereby an extra increase in Ca2+ and Mg2+
Fig. 5. The removal increased with increased amount of AWM cannot improve the dye removal.
up to a maximum efficiency (95%), after which an increase in As far as removal of high-concentration anionic dye is con-
AWM dosage does not further improve the dye removal, imply- cerned, although a complete removal by the AWM could not be
ing that a complete dye removal could not be achieved even achieved, a much high efficiency could be obtained. It is eco-
though using large amount of the AWM. Prior to reaching the nomically of importance for application of AWM in wastewater
maximum efficiency of 95%, the dye removal is increasingly treatment, because, although a similar high dye removal could
 M.-X. Zhu et al. / Journal of Hazardous Materials 149 (2007) 735–741 739

were all stabilized around 10.5. The slight effect of pH on the dye
removal as well as high and stable final pH of the suspensions
is mainly determined by the nature of high alkalinity and large
pH buffer capacity of AWM suspension. Therefore, pH is not a
critical limiting factor in pursuing a high efficiency of the dye
removal using AWM and no rigid pH control is needed. That
is an important advantage for AWM application because dye
removal using conventional adsorbents or chemical coagulants
is strongly pH dependent and thereby an optimal pH condition
should be remained to achieve a satisfactory result.

3.5. Effect of inorganic anions SO4 2− and PO4 3−

The effect of two inorganic anions SO4 2− and PO4 3− on

removal of the dye by AWM suspension is shown in Fig. 8(a
and b). The dye removal remained almost unchanged with an
increase in SO4 2− concentration when initial dye concentrations
were 50 and 100 mg L−1 (Fig. 8a). That implies that competi-
tion of SO4 2− with the dye anions for sorption sites is weak,
given that surface sorption is the main mechanism at low dye
concentration (<300 mg L−1 ). At 400 mg L−1 of dye concentra-
tion, the dye removal was also kept almost unchanged when
Fig. 6. Effect of Mg2+ (a) and Ca2+ (b) concentrations added on removal of acid
SO4 2− concentration increased up to 0.7 mol L−1 . However, the
blue 80 by alkaline white mud (AWM).
dye removal decreased rapidly with a further increase in SO4 2−
concentration (>0.7 mol L−1 ). The rapid decrease is expected to
be achieved using activated carbon adsorption or chemical coag- be the result of competition between SO4 2− and the dye anions
ulation, high loadings are needed of activated carbon or specific for Ca2+ and Mg2+ to precipitate when SO4 2− concentration is
chemical coagulants, consequently greatly enhancing treatment sufficiently high, given that chemical precipitation is the domi-
cost [15,16]. For other low-cost but less efficient adsorbents such nant mechanism for the dye removal at high dye concentration
as modified clay or agricultural by-products, high loading of the (>300 mg L−1 ). In this process, although precipitation of CaSO4
adsorbents is needed and thus a much greater volume of sludge
would be produced [18,19]. Thus, AWM is superior to other
low-cost adsorbents for removal of high concentration anionic
dyes. The use of AWM is also superior to conventional coagula-
tion/flocculation methods because the former is exempted from
loading of chemical coagulants.

3.4. Effect of initial pH of dye solutions

The effect of initial pH of dye solution on removal of the dye

is shown in Fig. 7. At pH ranging from 2.8 to 11.5, the effect of
initial pH on the dye removal was slight, and the final pH values

Fig. 7. Effect of initial pH on removal of acid blue 80 by alkaline white mud Fig. 8. Effect of sulphate ion (a) and phosphate ion (b) on removal of acid blue
(AWM). 80 by alkaline white mud (AWM).
740 M.-X. Zhu et al. / Journal of Hazardous Materials 149 (2007) 735–741

and MgSO4 may have scavenged a fraction of the dye anions, (400 mg L−1 ) and low (50–300 mg L−1 ) dye concentrations,
beneficial to overall removal of the dye to some extent, direct pre- respectively. Unlike many other adsorbents or chemical coag-
cipitation of the dye molecule, however, is largely suppressed ulants, no rigorous pH control is needed using AWM to treat
due to depletion of Ca2+ and Mg2+ , leading to a substantial anionic dye wastewaters.
decrease in overall removal of the dye from 85% to 31%.
The dye removal decreased with an increase in phosphate
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