Efficient removal of MB dye using litchi leaves powder adsorbent: Isotherm and kinetic studies

Removal of Methylene Blue (MB) dye using Litchi Leaves Powder (LLP) material was carried out in batch mode. Effect of the mass of the adsorbent (0.1–2.5 g/L), pH of the solution (2−12), starting concentration of MB dye (50–150 mg/L), ionic strength using NaCl (0.1–0.5 M) as an electrolyte, contact time (0–60 min) on the adsorption of MB dye was studied. To calculate pH at which LLP material surface becomes neutral point of zero charge (pHpzc) is also determined and found to be 6.48. Removal process best fit in the pseudo-second-order kinetic model as indicated by its higher R2 value (0.999). Isotherm models (Freundlich and Langmuir) were fitted to the data obtained from the experiment to understand the adsorption behaviour. Result shows that experimental data were fitted to the both isotherm models (Freundlich and Langmuir) as indicated by higher R2 value for both Freundlich (0.991) and Langmuir (0.994) model, and it was determined that LLP has a maximum adsorption capacity of 119.76 mg/g.