Issue
Korean Chemical Engineering Research,
Vol.61, No.2, 273-277, 2023
Biosorption of Methylene Blue from Aqueous Solution using Dried Rhodotorula glutinis Biomass
The biosorption of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution was investigated using dried Rhodotorula glutinis as the biosorbent. The effects of pH, initial dye concentration, biosorbent dosage, and kinetic studies were determined to obtain valuable information for biosorption. Results indicated that most of the adsorbed MB bound within 30 minutes of contact and the MB adsorption capacity increased from 21.1 to 101.8 mg/g with the initial MB concentration increased from 50 to 300 mg/L. Additionally, the MB adsorption capacity gradually increased from pH 4.0 to 9.0, reaching its peak at an initial pH of 9.0. As the biomass load was increased from 0.25 to 4.0 g/L, the MB removal efficiency increased from 14.1 to 84.5%. The Langmuir model provided the best fit throughout the concentration range, and the maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) and Langmuir constant (b) were determined to be 135.14 mg/g and 0.026 l/mg, respectively. Furthermore, the biosorbent process of R. glutinis was found to follow pseudo-second-order kinetics and the calculated qeq,cal value showed good agreement with the experimental qeq value. Overall, the biosorption of MB by R. glutinis can be characterized as a monolayer, single site type phenomenon, and the rate-limiting step was determined to be the chemical reaction between the adsorbent and the adsorbate.