Kinetic studies for the adsorption of methyl violet by nano potassium zinc ferrocyanide powder from aqueous solution

Abstract

A novel adsorbent; fine particulate sized potassium zinc ferrocyanide powder; K₂Zn[Fe(CN)₆] was synthesized indigenously by a slow co-precipitation method. The adsorbent was characterized by CHN analysis, FT-IR, XRD, and SEM techniques. The powder consists of 50.7 nm grains with good crystalline nature and further supported by XRD sharp diffraction peaks. The surface area and total pore volume of potassium zinc ferrocyanide powder was found with the help of Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. Batch experiments were carried out to test the efficiency of potassium zinc ferrocyanide powder for removing methyl violet. The adsorption studies include contact time, initial dye concentration, pH, and temperature. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models were applied to calculate Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption parameters, like X_m, K_L, n, and K_F. Furthermore, ANOVA of the dye concentration data to determine adsorption characteristics was studied and found to have significant effect.

Keywords:

• Adsorption
• Kinetics
• Isotherms
• Methyl violet
• Potassium zinc ferrocyanide
• ANOVA

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Rekha Gunasekaran and Swapnil Tichkule for the wet lab assistance.