Experimental Investigation on Reactive Orange 16 Removal Using Waste Biomass of Ulva prolifera

Abstract

Ulva prolifera marine seaweed was tested for its capacity to eliminate reactive orange 16 (RO16) from aqueous solutions. Algae has recently been regarded as one of the most environmental friendly wastewater treatment methods and resources. The batch study used variations in solution pH, sorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, and temperature. The biochar was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, an elemental analyser, proximate analysis, and a BET analyser. The adsorption mechanism was further investigated using adsorption isotherm and kinetic models. The thermodynamic analysis was performed by varying temperatures at different dye concentrations and calculating thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy. The study was performed to evaluate the sorbent’s performance in real-time wastewater treatment, a variety of chemicals, solid-liquid ratios, and regeneration cycles that were used to determine desorption efficiency.