Removal of anionic (Acid Yellow 17 and Amaranth) dyes using aminated avocado (Persea americana) seed powder: adsorption/desorption, kinetics, isotherms, thermodynamics, and recycling studies

Abstract

Aminated avocado seed powder (AASP)—an eco-friendly novel adsorbent has been used for the removal of Acid Yellow 17 (AY 17) and Amaranth (AMR) from an aqueous phase. The AASP (before and after adsorption) was systematically characterized by different analytical techniques such as FT-IR, FESEM, EDX, and N₂ adsorption-desorption analysis. Non-linear form of various kinetic (PFO and PSO) and isotherm (Langmuir and Freundlich) models were used to examine the adsorption behavior of AY 17 and AMR onto AASP. The adsorption of AY 17 and AMR onto AASP was well illustrated by the PSO kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm models. At 303 K, the maximum adsorption capacities (obtained from the Langmuir) of the AASP for AY 17 and AMR was 42.7 and 89.2 mg/g, respectively. The AY 17 and AMR adsorption was strongly pH-dependent with an optimum pH value of 2.0. Activation energy was calculated as 12.3 and 16.3 kJ/mol for AY 17 and AMR respectively, suggesting physical adsorption. The positive values of ΔG^o and ΔH^o indicated that the adsorption process of AY 17 and AMR onto AASP was non-spontaneous and endothermic. The negligible loss of adsorption capacity and excellent regeneration of AASP were observed for the five cycles. Statement of novelty: The present research majorly focused on the synthesis of adsorbent from Avocado seed for the removal of Acid Yellow 17 and Amaranth anionic dyes from aqueous solution. Although the literature is available on direct seed powder as adsorbent, to the best of our knowledge, no chemical modified adsorbent synthesis was not available. Hence, to fill the gap in the literature, we chose the following study that significantly enhanced the adsorption efficiency of the selected anionic dyes.