Preparation of Breadfruit Leaf Biochar for the Application of Congo Red Dye Removal from Aqueous Solution and Optimization of Factors by RSM-BBD

Abstract

In this work, biochar produced from breadfruit leaves was utilized to remove the toxic Congo red dye. XRD, FTIR, and FESEM-EDX were implemented to characterize the biochar. Response surface methodology (RSM) and the Box-Behnken design (BBD) techniques were used to evaluate Congo red’s optimum adsorption efficiency. The adsorption of Congo red was studied by varying dye concentrations (5–50 mg/L), times (30–240 min), pH (6–9), and dosages (0.5–2 g/100 mL). X-ray diffractometer results show that the structure of biochar is amorphous. The biochar exhibited unbounded OH, aliphatic CH group, and C=O stretch, as shown by the band peaks at 3340 cm−1, 2924 cm−1, and 1625 cm−1 intensities. RSM-BBD design results showed maximum removal efficiency of 99.96% for Congo red at pH 6.37, dye concentration 45 mg/L, time 105 min, and dosage 1.92 g, respectively. The adsorption of Congo red by biochar was successfully modeled using the Langmuir model and pseudo-second-order model. The biochar produced from breadfruit leaves exhibited a high adsorption capacity of 17.81 mg/g for Congo red adsorption. It suggests that the adsorption is both homogenous monolayer and physicochemical.