Raw sunflower seed shell particles as a green adsorbent for the adsorption of synthetic organic dyes from wastewater

Abstract In this work, raw sunflower seed shell particles (RSSSP) as a green adsorbent were used to remove disperse red 1 (DR1), crystal violet (CV), and malachite green (MG), and methylene blue (MB) dyes from synthetic wastewater. Various analyzes, including fourier transform infrared, field‐emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis, were performed, which determined the morphology, particle size, surface area, and pore size of RSSSP. The effect of environmental factors on the adsorption ability of the RSSSP was investigated in detail. The results of this study showed that RSSSP has high adsorption efficiency toward organic dyes, and was comparable with other natural and synthetic adsorbents. The results showed that Freundlich isotherm and pseudo‐second‐order models describe the adsorption of the dye onto RSSSP. Additionally, the maximum adsorption capacity of DR1, CV, MG, and MB onto RSSSP was found to be 85, 81, 120, and 98 mg/g, respectively. Furthermore, the calculated thermodynamic parameters showed that the adsorption process of the studied dyes was exothermic. In addition, the RSSSP can be used in several adsorption–desorption cycles. The calculated efficiency for textile wastewater based on the COD test is 90% using RSSSP. Finally, the RSSSP could be used as an efficient low‐cost adsorbent for the adsorption of industrial dyes from wastewater.