Equilibrium adsorption isotherm study of binary basic dyes on to bamboo derived activated carbon

In the present study, a high surface area activated carbon (HSA1) is produced from waste bamboo scaffolding by low temperature chemical activation with phosphoric acid. The single and binary component adsorption capacities of basic dyes, namely, Basic Yellow 11 (BY11) and Maxilon Red GRL 200% (MR), were conducted on HSA1 and a commercially available carbon, Calgon Filtrasorb® 400 (F400). HSA1 showed up to five times higher adsorption capacities for both dyes in single and binary systems than F400. The adsorption capacity of the individual dyes in the binary system was lower than in the single component system. The equilibrium adsorption data for the binary-component system were analysed. Extended single-component equilibrium isotherm models were used to predict the experimental data. The extended Freundlich model was overall the best fitted to the experimental data for both activated carbons, suggesting significant non-ideal effects and heterogeneous surfaces for the basic dye binary adsorption system with activated carbons.