Enhanced toxic dye removal from wastewater using biodegradable polymeric natural adsorbent

In this study, the toxic cationic dye of methylene blue (MB) was encapsulated by the polymeric natural carbohydrate of turmeric powder (TP) adsorbent. The natural TP adsorbent was characterized to define the functional groups existing for complexation ability to the MB dye molecules. The MB dye adsorption system was optimized by varying the parameters of contact time, pH, initial concentration, competing ions and elution operations. The contributions of adsorption and complexation on MB dye removal by TP adsorbent was quantified at wide pH ranges for the determination of optimum condition and the maximum overall MB dye removal of 99.5% was obtained at pH 7.0. In the acidic pH region, the positively charged protonated TP adsorbent did not favor the adsorption…