Removal of acid yellow dye 17 from aqueous solutions using an activated bone char

Textile dyes are causing serious environmental problems in the world. The treatment of dyes from textile wastewater is necessary to protect the environment. Adsorbents with high adsorption potential from local materials are required to solve these problems. In this study, the treatment of acid yellow 17 dye from aqueous solutions was carried out using an activated bone char, collected from slaughterhouses. The dye removal performance was measured using a UV-Vis spectrometer. Adsorption experiments were carried out in a batch process under different operating conditions including initial dye concentration, adsorbent dose, contact time, and solution pH. From the experimental data, the maximum dye removal efficiency of 91.43% was achieved at an optimum pH of 2, contact time of 120 min, initial dye concentration of 50 mg/L, and adsorbent dose of 20 g/L. Adsorption models: adsorption isotherm and adsorption kinetics of acid yellow 17 dye onto the activated animal bone char, the data fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model (R2 = 0.9245) and pseudo-second-order model (R2 = 0.9967), respectively. This study indicated that the activated bone char, which is obtained from animal slaughterhouses and discharged as waste into the environment has a high potential to remove acid yellow 17 dye from polluted water.