Adsorption of Reactive orange 16 dye onto activated carbon from the stems of Solanum Torvum

The activated carbon prepared from Solanum Torvumby treating it with H2SO4 was used as an effective adsorbent for the removal of reactive orange 16 (RO16). The activated carbon was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), powder-XRD and FTIR spectral analysis. Experiments were carried out as function of initial dye concentration, adsorbent dose and pH. The adsorption process was more favourable at acidic pH (2.0). The data were modeled using the pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetics. The adsorption was found to follow pseudo-second order. The results indicate that the Langmuir model provides the best correlation for the experimental data. Thermodynamic parameters such as free energy change, enthalpy change and entropy change determined indicate the process for spontaneous and endothermic.