Journal of Molecular Liquids 208 (2015) 99–105

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Journal of Molecular Liquids

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/molliq

Kinetics and thermodynamics of enhanced adsorption of the dye AR 18

using activated carbons prepared from walnut and poplar woods
Behzad Heibati a,b,⁎, Susana Rodriguez-Couto c,d, Mohammad A. Al-Ghouti e, Mohammad Asif f,
Inderjeet Tyagi g, Shilpi Agarwal g, Vinod Kumar Gupta g,h,i,⁎⁎
a
Health Sciences Research Centre, Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
b
Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
c
CEIT, Unit of Environmental Engineering, Paseo Manuel de Lardizábal 15, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain
d
IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Alameda de Urquijo 36, 48011 Bilbao, Spain
e
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, P.O. Box: 2713, Qatar
f
Department of Chemical Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
g
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, 247667, India
h
Center for Environment and Water, The research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
i
Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 28 April 2015 Activated carbons prepared from walnut and poplar woods are used as economical adsorbents for the rapid re-
moval and fast adsorption of Acid Red 18 dye from the aqueous solutions; the kinetics, isotherm and thermody-
Keywords: namics studies of the process were well investigated and elucidated. The adsorption phenomenon may be
Acid Red 18 dye possibly attributed to the formation of various binding bonds between the activated carbons, developed from
Activated carbon the poplar and walnut woods, surface and the dye molecules; adsorption may firstly take place on the external
Walnut wood, poplar wood
surface of the developed adsorbent i.e. activated carbon developed from the walnut and poplar wood particles,
Adsorption isotherms
Adsorption mechanisms
where the attached functional groups play a crucial role in the rapid removal and fast adsorption. Secondly, ad-
sorption may take place on the entire surface, which leads to a uniform distribution of adsorbed Acid Red 18 mol-
ecules onto the developed adsorbents. Forces that are responsible for the main adsorption mechanism are π–π
attraction between Acid Red 18 dye molecules and the C_C bonds of the developed adsorbents. Consequently,
at least three types of adsorption sites might occur on the adsorbent surface; these are basal plane, edge plane
and micropores. Neither pseudo-first order kinetic model nor pseudo-second order kinetic model was able to
describe the adsorption process of AR18 molecules onto the activated carbon from poplar wood.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The subsistence of noxious synthetic dyes in the aquatic sources and
food chain causes several detrimental and severe health hazards on the
biotic organisms, flora as well as fauna that are present in the ecosys-
tem. Several industries discharge their effluent wastes into aquatic
sources which consist of colored water containing synthetic dyes;
these synthetic dyes due to two or more benzene rings i.e. aromatic na-
ture are resistant to biodegradation by the indigenous microorganisms;
which leads to the bioaccumulation of this noxious waste in the
⁎ Correspondence to: B. Heibati, Health Sciences Research Centre, Department of
Occupational Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Mazandaran University of Medical
Sciences, Sari, Iran.
⁎⁎ Correspondence to: V.K. Gupta, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of
Technology Roorkee, 247667, India.
E-mail addresses: vinodfcy@iitr.ac.in, vinodfcy@gmail.com (V.K. Gupta).
ecological pyramid of food chain and pyramids of energy posing a se-
vere hazard to living organisms [1–3]. Azo dyes generally possess one
or more azo bonds (−N_N−), these are heavily utilized in the textile
and several food industries [4,5]. Several analytical techniques like elec-
trochemical oxidation, sensors, sorption, chemical coagulation, solvent
extraction, bioremediation, photocatalytic degradation and adsorption
were reported for the removal of noxious impurities from wastewater
[6–25]. Among them, adsorption is the most widespread process that
has been frequently used in the field of wastewater treatment. The
most usual adsorbent was activated carbon, which appears especially
useful for the removal of organic pollutants [26]. However, due to
their cost, the replacement of commercial activated carbons by naturally
available and low-cost adsorbents has attracted considerable interest in
recent years. Various non-conventional resources such as bituminous
coal [27], waste biomass [28], wood charcoal [29], sugarcane dust [30],
coconut tree [31], kernel shell [32], and chitosan nano-particles [33],
carbon nanotubes [34–41], MWCNTs [42,43], nanoparticles and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2015.03.057
0167-7322/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
100 B. Heibati et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 208 (2015) 99–105
nanocomposites [44–48], rubber tire [49,50], and other low cost adsor-
bents [51–56] are used for the removal of noxious impurities from the
aqueous solution.
In general, the characteristic feature of any prepared activated car-
bon depends on the method of activation. There are principally two
methods which are used for the activation of developed adsorbent i.e.
physical and chemical. The physical activation includes carbonization
and activation at high temperatures. The factors which alter the physical
activation are, the material itself, temperature value at which carboniza-
tion occurs, chemical characteristics of the oxidizing agent and time of
activation. On the other hand chemical activation includes treatment
with different chemicals; the fact that chemical activation acquires
only one step gives it a big advantage over the physical activation pro-
cess. Phosphoric acid was considered to be one of the most commonly
used activating agents in the chemical activation process [57]. Walnut
and poplar woods are considered to be attractive for their potential
use as efficient and excellent adsorbents due to the fact that they con-
tain some polar functional groups, such as alcoholic, carbonylic, carbox-
ylic and phenolic groups, which would be potentially involved in the
fast removal and rapid adsorption process [58].
Accordingly, the main aim of the present study was to develop the
efficient activated carbons prepared from poplar (ACP) and walnut
woods (ACW) and to investigate and compare their adsorption charac-
teristic for the removal of the anionic azo dye Acid Red 18 which is com-
mercially used in the textile industry. Also in the present study removal
mechanisms of AR18 by the two prepared adsorbents were well inves-
tigated and elucidated. The understanding of the removal mechanisms
would enhance the knowledge related to the adsorption process
which, in turn, could enhance the process itself.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Preparation of the activated carbons
The poplar and walnut woods were obtained from the territorial
area and were crushed into small pieces (1 cm) using a jaw crusher.
The granules obtained were then washed several times with distilled
water and dried for 24 h at 105 °C. After that, a 100 g of the crushed
and dried wood patches was then mixed with 300 mL of a H3PO4 solu-
tion (85% v/v) for chemical activation. The mixture was left for 24 h at
25 °C. Then, the particles obtained were drained out of the solution
and heated at 900 °C for 2 h. The prepared charcoal was washed several
times with distilled water, and then dried at 85 °C for around 24 h. The
particles were then sieved through mesh 40 and were collected for fur-
ther use in the experiments.
2.2. Batch experiments
All the chemicals used were of reagent-grade and were obtained
from Merck (Germany). Batch experiments study was carried out to de-
termine the adsorption capabilities of ACP and ACW to remove AR18
from aqueous solutions. A specific mass of adsorbent (0.8 g) was
added to 500-mL glass beakers containing 250 mL of prepared dye solu-
tions (50 mg/L). After equilibrium, the amount of residual dye concen-
tration was determined at 506 nm, using UV–vis spectrophotometer
(Perkin Elmer Lambda 25). The adsorption capacity (qe, mg/g) was
then determined using the following equation:
ðC0 −Ce ÞV
qe ¼
M tact time increases. The removal of the dye was rapid initially and then
where C0 and Ce are the initial and final concentrations of the dye in the
solution in mg/L, respectively, V is the volume of the solution (L) and M
is the mass of the adsorbent (g). The effect of pH on the removal
efficiency was studied by carrying out the batch experiments at
different pH values in the range of 5.0–13.0. The pH value was adjusted
using dilute H2SO4 or NaOH solutions. The effect of contact time
(10–120 min) on the removal of dye concentration (100 mg/L) with
0.8 g of the adsorbent was also examined.
The kinetic studies were carried out in 500 mL beakers containing
250 mL of dye solution (50 mg/L dye concentration, pH 5.0) and 0.8 g
of ACW and ACP. The beakers were shaken at a speed of 120 rpm.
Prior to adding the ACW and ACP materials to the beakers, 1 mL of
dye solution was taken to calculate the initial AR18 concentration.
1 mL samples were withdrawn at different time intervals over
120 min. This small sample volume would ensure that the volume of
AR18 solution remains constant throughout the experiment. Samples
were filtered, centrifuged and the residual dye concentration was deter-
mined spectroscopically as indicated above.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Mechanisms of the adsorption
The mechanism of the formation of activated carbon from cellulose
was shown in Fig. 1(A). The successive reaction phases may involve po-
lymerization reactions, which result in the formation of stable carbon
together with aromatization. The formation of C_O groups would be
due to the water dehydration from the hydroxyl groups. Alternatively,
the C_C bonds and aromatic nature would be produced from intra-
molecular dehydration of the oligosaccharides or monosaccharides.
These species are related to the surface oxygen functional groups. Ac-
cordingly, stable oxygen (i.e. ether) would be formed [59].
The chemical structure and porous nature of the adsorbent would
alter the value of the adsorption capacity. This could be due to the avail-
ability of unpaired electrons, or various functional groups, which would
certainly; affect the force of the surface attraction and eventually the ad-
sorptive capacity. As the AR18 is an anionic dye, the active sites account-
able for adsorption would have an acidic character. The acidic sites are
related to the protonated surface oxygen.
In fact, the adsorption mechanisms could be attributed to:
(a) surface accumulation of AR18, (b) polar adsorption of the AR18 by
the functional groups of the ACW and ACP (hydrophilic shell), and
(c) π–π attraction between the cyclic AR18 and the layers of the ACW
and ACP (hydrophilic core). The π–π attraction is generally a weak at-
traction that would be formed between the adsorbate and the adsor-
bent. The degree of π–π attraction depends on the π-electrons density
of the molecule. Consequently, very strong attraction would be formed
with molecules possessing more than two double and triple bonds, and
poly-nuclear aromatics.
Firstly, adsorption of AR18 may occur on the external surface of ACW
and ACP particles where the external functional groups will enhance the
adsorption process. Secondly, adsorption may take on the entire surface
and brings about a uniform distribution of adsorbed AR18 on the surface
of the developed adsorbent. The AR18 adsorbed on ACW and ACP sur-
faces will assist in the creation of π–π with the C_C bonds of the
ACW and ACP. Consequently, at least three types of active adsorption
sites might occur on the surface of the developed adsorbent i.e. basal
plane, edge plane and micropores, as shown in Fig. 1(B).
3.2. Effect of contact time
The impact of contact time on the adsorption capacity of ACW and
ACP adsorbents for AR18 removal was shown in Fig. 2(A), it clearly de-
picts that the removal of the dye by ACW and ACP increases as the con-
ð1Þ
slowed down after around 40 min for ACW and around 90 min for ACP.
This trend could be due to the high availability of free active sites at the
beginning of the adsorption process, whereas after a specific period of
time active sites will be gradually occupied which will make the process
of adsorption slower [60]. As shown in Fig. 2(A), it took almost 45 min to
reach the equilibrium stage for the ACW while it took almost 90 min to
 B. Heibati et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 208 (2015) 99–105 101

Fig. 1. (A) Carbonization of activated carbon prepared from walnut wood (ACW) and poplar wood (ACP) (cellulose) and (B) probable positions of Acid Red 18 adsorption on the surface of
the ACW and ACP.

reach equilibrium for the ACP. This could be an indication of the higher
availability of adsorption sites on ACW.
3.3. Effect of pH on dye removal
The impact of pH value of the solution on the adsorption process is
one of the most crucial factors that alter the adsorption process. The
pH value could affect the surface charge density of the adsorbent and
the concentration of dissolved ions in the solution which, in turn,
would affect the uptake capacity of the adsorbent. As shown in
Fig. 2(B), the dye removal efficiency decreased as pH increased. The
maximum dye removal for both adsorbents was observed at a pH
value of 5.0. The pH effect on the dye removal may be due to the chem-
ical and electrostatic interactions between the adsorbent surface and
the dye molecules and also it could be due to the availability of active
sites on the adsorbent surfaces. As the pH of the system increases, the
number of negatively charged binding sites would increase. Due to elec-
trostatic repulsion the negatively charged surface of the adsorbents will
not adsorb the anionic AR18 dye. Also at higher pH values an abundant
concentration of OH− ions would be expected which will compete with
the dye molecules for the available positively charged sites on the ad-
sorbent surface, this would decrease the removal efficiency of AR18.
Several mechanisms could be involved in the removal process of the
dye molecules by activated carbon adsorbents. These processes include
electrostatic attraction, hydrogen binding, complexation, coordination,
chelation and ion exchange [61]. The fact that the adsorption process
of AR18 by the studied adsorbents was pH dependent which indicates
that ion exchange, electrostatic interactions and other phenomena are
involved in the rapid removal mechanisms. When hydroxyl functional-
ities are involved in the adsorption and/or chelation process there is an
increase in the binding level of AR18 ions further to the already taking
place electrostatic interactions. In the ion-exchange mechanism, the
102 B. Heibati et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 208 (2015) 99–105

up to a certain point after that point the removal efficiency remained al-
most constant. Optimum ACW and ACP were found to be around
10.0 mg of adsorbate/g of adsorbent. The increase in the adsorption ef-
ficiency with the adsorbent dosage could be due to the increase of the
adsorbent surface area, as the mass increases it implies towards the
presence of more available adsorption sites. The removal efficiency
eventually reached a plateau with the increased adsorbent mass. This
could be due to the fact that excess particles of the adsorbent in solution
could cause these particles to aggregate and agglomerate. This, in turn,
will decrease the available surface for adsorption. Also the higher
amount of particles of the adsorbent could increase the interaction
among the particles themselves which could desorb some of the loosely
bound adsorbed dye ions.

3.5. Adsorption isotherm studies

Equilibrium isotherms are considered essential while designing the

Fig. 2. (A) Effect of contact time on Acid Red 18 removal (initial dye concentration
100 mg/L, adsorbent concentration: 0.8 g/250 mL at pH: 5.0), (B) effect of solution
pH on Acid Red 18 removal (initial dye concentration 100 mg/L, adsorbent mass =
0.8 g/250 mL, temperature = 25 °C, t = 120 min), and (C) effect of adsorbent mass on
Acid Red 18 removal (initial dye concentration 100 mg/L, pH: 5.0, temperature = 25 °C
and t = 120 min).
adsorption systems. Adsorption characteristics of an adsorbent can be
estimated by constructing the adsorption isotherms. These isotherms
are usually performed by fixing the mass of adsorbent while changing
the concentration of the adsorbate in an appropriate range. Two adsorp-
tion isotherm models were used to investigate and elucidate the ad-
sorption behavior of AR18 molecules onto ACW and ACP; namely
Langmuir and Freundlich models [62–66].
To assess the adsorption potential of the two prepared adsorbents
for AR18, their adsorption isotherms were fitted to both Langmuir and
Freundlich models (Fig. 3). From Fig. 3(A) it was clear that the adsorp-
tion data for ACP was in good agreement and well fitted to the Langmuir
model with an R2 value of 0.97 while the data for ACW did not fit well
the Langmuir model (R2 = 0.57). Langmuir model assumes monolayer
coverage of the adsorbate on the surface of the developed adsorbent.
Therefore, the high value of the correlation coefficient for ACP could
predict monolayer coverage of AR18. Also according to the Langmuir
model this could suggest some homogeneity in the surface or pores of
the ACP [61]. Thus once a dye molecule is adsorbed it will occupy that
site and no further adsorption can take place at that particular active

dye anions will bind to the positively-charged sites by adding protons

and forming acidic groups on the adsorbent. In the complexation mech-
anism, dye ions sequestration will be viewed as the coordination of dye
ions to the surface functional groups of ACP and ACW. The ACP and ACW
are mainly negatively charged due to the existence of hydroxyl and ox-
ygen groups. The adsorption of AR18 from the aqueous solution is
strongly influenced by the surface shape and chemistry of ACP and
ACW. ACP and ACW adsorbents are acidic in nature (pH solutions 5.1
and 5.3, respectively) due to the existence of different functional groups
that include hydrogen ions such as alcohols, phenolic hydroxides, and
ethers. AR18 ions may form complexes with surface functional groups
such as cellulose-OH and phenolic-OH through ion-exchange reactions.
At acidic pH values, the functionality of these groups will not change. At
basic pH values, these groups begin to neutralize changing their activity
and binding properties. A slightly constant behavior for AR18 was ob-
served between pH values 5.0 and 7.0 especially for ACW adsorbent.

3.4. Effect of the adsorbent mass on dye removal

To investigate the impact of adsorbent mass on the adsorption pro-

cess the test was carried out by maintaining all the other parameters
constant. Fig. 2(C) presents the impact of adsorbent mass on the effi-
ciency of dye removal. It can be clearly depicted from the figure that Fig. 3. (A) Langmuir, and (B) Freundlich adsorption isotherms for Acid Red 18 adsorption
the removal efficiency increased as the mass of adsorbent increased by activated carbon prepared from walnut wood (ACW) and poplar wood (ACP).
 B. Heibati et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 208 (2015) 99–105 103

site. Hence, a maximum adsorption capacity will occur where no more 3.6.1. Pseudo-first order
adsorption will happen [67]. Although Langmuir model did not fit the The pseudo-first order kinetics can be described by the following
adsorption data for ACW on the whole range of studied equilibrium equation:
concentrations it can be seen from Fig. 3(A) that the line related to
ACW can be divided into two straight lines that would fit the data in dqt
¼ K1 ðqe −qt Þ ð2Þ
two conditions. One line would fit the data at low concentrations and dt
another at higher concentrations. This could indicate that the surface
where qe and qt are the adsorption capacity of the adsorbate (mg/g) at
of the adsorbent possess two different kinds of adsorption sites, which
equilibrium and at time t (min) and k1 is the pseudo-first-order rate
exist with a big range of binding energies. Whereas the surface sites
constant. After integration at the boundary of qt = 0 at t = 0 and
with highest energy will be firstly occupied, this was later followed by
qt = qt at t = t, the linearized equation will be:
the sites with less energy. This noticeable crucial behavior could be ex-
plained as follows: (i) as AR18 molecules adsorb the coulomb attraction  
q K1
between them and the adsorbent will decrease, (ii) adjacent adsorbed Log 1− t ¼ − t: ð3Þ
qe 2:303
molecules could have unfavorable chemical interactions among each
other and (iii) different active sites on the adsorbent. This deviation
from linearity could be also explained as follows: when all of the avail-
3.6.2. Pseudo-second order
able monolayer sites are used up then some fresh internal surface sites
The pseudo-second order kinetics can be expressed by the following
will be used more. Moreover, the adsorbate molecules could link to each
equation:
other that leads to more access to the freshly unused surfaces and effec-
tively by clearing the blocked pores. This means that the pores were pre- dqt 2
viously occupied. Due to the previous mentioned reasons the adsorptive ¼ K2 ðqe −qt Þ ð4Þ
dt
capacity of the adsorbent will be further increased [58].
Fig. 3(B) shows that the adsorption data for both ACP and ACW was where k2 is the pseudo-second-order rate constant (g/mg min). After
found to be well fitted with Freundlich model having an R2 value of 0.92 integration at the boundary of qt = 0 at t = 0 and qt = qt at t = t, the
and 0.96, respectively. The Freundlich adsorption equation assumes that linearized equation will be
a multi-layer adsorption could occur on the surface of the adsorbent. It is
clear from the experimental results that the adsorption capacities corre- t 1 1
¼ þ t: ð5Þ
sponding to the final equilibrium concentration were increased in qt K 2 qe 2 qe
order: ACP N ACW. This behavior could be explained by the capability
of AR18 anions to form a stable complex with ACP. The 1/n value These equations have been widely used to characterize the adsorp-
shown in Table 1 for the Freundlich equation indicates that the strength tion kinetics of the process. The best fitted model was considered
of the adsorption process will be related to the distribution of energy based on the regression coefficient (R2) and the experimental qe value
sites. For example, the value of 1/n of adsorption AR18 onto ACW sur- obtained. The rate of dye adsorption was studied at different time inter-
face was 0.82, this value means that 82% of the active equal energy vals of 1–120 min.
sites contributed to the adsorption process. Therefore, as the value of The kinetics adsorption studies are shown in Fig. 4. Parameters of ki-
1/n gets closer to 1 (100%) this would indicate a more homogeneous netics equations are shown in Table 2. As shown in Table 2 the kinetic of
surface. It is also shown in Table 1 that the magnitude of the Langmuir
constant ‘b’ for ACP and ACW was 0.934 and 0.193 L/mg respectively,
which indicates that the affinity of the ACP for the dye is much higher
than that of the ACW [61,68]. Furthermore, the maximum adsorption
capacities of ACW and ACP were found to be 30.3 and 3.91 mg/g, respec-
tively. It was obvious that the ACW adsorbent was more effective in re-
moving AR18 dye from aqueous solutions. This could be due to the
higher availability of adsorption sites on ACW due to the more porous
structure with larger internal surface area than ACP [69].

3.6. Kinetics studies

Various kinetics models have been utilized in the literature to assess

the adsorption process [70–72], Kinetics modeling can direct to appro-
priate rate expressions characteristic of possible reaction mechanisms
also they can assist in calculating the adsorption rates. In this respect,
two kinetics models namely, pseudo first-order equation (Eqs. (2) and
(3)) and pseudo second-order equation (Eqs. (4) and (5)) were
investigated.

Table 1
Langmuir and Freundlich constants for the adsorption of AR18 on ACW and ACP.

Freundlich constants Kf (mg/g)(mg/L)n 1/n R2

ACW 0.974 0.82 0.96

ACP 1.506 0.87 0.92

Langmuir constants qm (mg/g) b(L/mg) R2

Fig. 4. Adsorption kinetics: (A) pseudo-first and (B) pseudo-second order for Acid Red 18
ACW 30.3 0.193 0.97
adsorption by activated carbon prepared from walnut wood (ACW) and poplar wood
ACP 3.91 0.934 0.57
(ACP).
104 B. Heibati et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 208 (2015) 99–105

Table 2 efficiency was found to decrease as pH of the aqueous solution in-

Pseudo-first and second-order parameters. creased. The maximum dye removal for both adsorbents was observed
Adsorbent Pseudo-first-order model Pseudo-second-order model at a pH value of 5.0. The experimental results of ACW were successfully
qe,exp qe,cal k1 R2 K2 qe,cal R2
applied to the pseudo-second order model. Neither pseudo-first order
(mg/g) (mg/g) (1/min) (g/mg min) (mg/g) kinetic model nor pseudo-second order kinetic model was able to de-
scribe well the adsorption process of AR18 molecules onto ACP. This
ACW 10.84 26.2 0.048 0.98 6.3 × 10−3 12.59 0.99
ACP 10.4 15.435 0.01 0.975 1.738 × 10−4 29.41 0.88 could be attributed to the formation of various binding bonds between
the ACP surface and AR18 molecules.

AR18 dye removal by the use of ACW and ACP followed pseudo-second- Acknowledgments
order equation R2 N 0.99 and pseudo-first-order equation R2 N 0.975 re-
spectively. Due to the general porosity of the ACW and ACP, intra- The authors would like to thank Prof. Yuh-Shan Ho from the Depart-
particle diffusion would be expected in the adsorption processes. This ment of Environmental Sciences, College of Environmental Science and
could be represented into three adsorption steps: (i) instantaneous Engineering, Peking University, China and Mansur Zarrabi from the De-
AR18 adsorption within the first few minutes of the contact time, (ii) partment of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health,
equilibrium will be gradually reached as the active sites of adsorption Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran for their helpful sug-
are being used (iii) reaching to the equilibrium stage [59]. gestions in the modification methods. The authors would also like to
As shown in Table 2 adsorption of AR18 by ACW and ACP followed thank the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Iran) for the financial
the pseudo-first order model with correlation coefficients (R2 = 0.98). support. Also, IT, SA and VKG, are thankful to the Department of Science
Even though the data fitted the pseudo-first order model it was noticed and Technology, New Delhi, India, for the financial support under pro-
that the calculated adsorption capacity, qe,cal, values obtained from the ject grant DST/INT/South Africa/P-03/2014. Support of the Deanship of
model did not match with those values obtained from experiments, Scientific Research grant for the Research Group RGP-VPP-292 at King
qe,exp (Table 2). This could be attributed to the formation of multiple Saud University is appreciated by M. Asif.
pseudo-first order processes. A multiple pseudo-first order process
means that the working range of the model could be divided into two
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