REMOVAL OF DYES FROM WATER BY CARBON NANOTUBES

The removal of one kind of dye, acid red B (ARB), by two kinds of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) and muti-walled CNTs (MWCNTs), were investigated. The results show that CNTs have high adsorption capacity for ARB, and the adsorption capacities for SWCNTs and MWCNTs are 585 and 85 mg/g, respectively. Kinetic study shows that the equilibrium time for adsorption of ARB to CNTs is 60 min, and the adsorption kinetic can be well described by the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption increases with the increase in solution pH, and coexisting NaCl and CaCl2 enhance the removal.