Removal of Brilliant Green Dye from Polluted Waters Using Bio-Sorbents Derived from Some Plant Materials

The sorption characteristics of Plant materials derived from Ficus religiosa, Prosopis cineraria and Hibiscus rosasinensis have been successfully explored as Bio-sorbents in extracting the Brilliant Green Dye from waste waters. The physicochemical parameters such as pH, sorbent concentration and equilibration time have been optimized for the maximum extraction of the Dye. The Dye sorption has been found to be sensitive to pH and at high pH values, the Dye has shown strong affinity towards the sorbents of the present study. The removal of the Dye is more with ashes as sorbents than with raw powders at optimum extraction conditions. Even small amounts of the sorbents have been found to be effective to remove completely the Dye. Fivefold excess of common anions ions present in natural waters, have not interfered with the extraction while Cation like Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Cu²⁺ have shown some interference but Fe²⁺ and Zn²⁺have synergistically maintained the maximum extraction of the Dye. The methodologies developed have been successfully applied to industrial effluents.