Activated carbon from rambutan peel-based for removal of dyes

Agricultural biomass, rambutan peel-based activated carbon (RPAC) was successfully prepared and used as adsorbent for removal of selected dyes (methylene blue and malachite green). Several effective optimization parameters for adsorption of dye such as adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, contact time and pH were studied to obtain the maximum adsorption of dye using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The optimum condition of adsorption of methylene blue using RPAC is (dosage = 9.0 g, initial concentration = 50 mg/L, contact time = 20 hours, pH = 6), while the optimum condition for malachite green (dosage = 3.0 g, initial concentration = 100 mg/L, contact time = 24 hours, pH = 10). RPAC was observed to
remove 99.8% for MG and MB. The adsorption equilibrium data were best represented by the Langmuir model for both dyes.