Removal of yellow dye using composite binded adsorbent developed using natural clay and activated carbon from sapindus seed

Degradation of dye in textile effluent is a major problem faced in all developing countries. In this study, an attempt has been made to remove basic yellow dye using a composite adsorbent which is a combination of clay and activated carbon prepared from sapindus seed. Basic yellow dye has a molecular structure which belongs to heterocycle class. In this study a new approach of binded clay with activated carbon was used as a green initiative. Binded clay along with prepared activated carbon from sapindus seed gave a better basic yellow dye removal efficiency of about 86% at alkaline pH of 9. In this paper four isotherm models, namely: Langmuir, Freundlich, pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order was utilized to correlate the experimental adsorption isotherm data. Among the various isotherm Freundlich model fit the data with a relatively higher R2 values than other models. •Removal of yellow dye using natural clay binded with activated carbon from sapindus seed was studied.•Effect of pH, dye concentration, activated carbon and clay concentration on dye removal were evaluated.•Alkaline pH favoured the adsorption of dye in composite adsorbent.•Maximum dye removal of 86% was achieved using composite adsorbent.•Freundlich isotherm fit the experimental data with a relatively higher R2 value.