ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Removing Methylene Blue from Aqueous Solutions
Using Rice Husk Silica Adsorbent
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Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran
Submission date: 2018-03-11
Final revision date: 2018-05-07
Acceptance date: 2018-05-14
Online publication date: 2019-01-02
Publication date: 2019-03-01
Corresponding author
Seyed Mahmoud Mehdinia
Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Semnan University of Medical Scien, 3671637915 Damghan, Iran
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(4):2281-2287
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ABSTRACT
The main goal of this study is to investigate the efficiency of the silica derived from the raw rice
husk in the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions. The effects of initial concentrations of
methylene blue, pH, the adsorbent dose, and the contact time on methylene blue removal efficiency were
carried out in batch reactors. The silica derived from the raw rice husk was prepared in a furnace at
800°C for 4 hours after acid leaching with sulfuric acid and chloridric acid. The rice husk silica showed
more porosity than the raw rice husk with a median pore radius of 2.4 nm and a high specific surface
area up to 226.3 m2g-1. The maximum removal efficiency of methylene blue by the rice husk silica under
the initial concentration of 10 mgL-1 methylene blue, 1 gL-1 adsorbent mass, 60 min contact time, and
pH 8 was 96.7%. Correlation coefficients of the adsorption models have shown a better matching of
methylene blue adsorption by the rice husk silica with the Langmuir isotherm model. The results of this
study show that the rice husk silica can be applied to remove environmental pollutants such as methylene
blue due to the low cost and availability of rice husks.