Biosorption using
natural waste has emerged
as a potential and promising strategy for removal of toxic dyes from
wastewaters in comparison to conventional ones. Herein, the
Codium decorticatum
alga (CDA) was biologically identified
and used as a biosorbent for anionic and cationic dyes from aqueous
solutions. SEM analysis showed a rough surface with an irregular edge
and shape while hydroxyl, amine, sulfur and carboxyl functional groups
were identified using FTIR analysis. TGA/DTG confirmed the stability
of CDA and the adsorption process. Batch studies were conducted to
investigate the effect of operational factors such as initial pH,
biosorbent dosage, temperature, initial concentration, and solid/liquid
contact time on the biosorption of crystal violet (CV) and Congo red
(CR) dyes. For both CV and CR dyes, the biosorption kinetics was accurately
described by the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir isotherm
was found to be best fitted for equilibrium data. Maximum uptake capacities
have attained up to 278.46 mg/g for CV and 191.01 mg/g for CR. The
CV and CR dye biosorption mechanism was ultimately manifested through
the electrostatic interactions. The regeneration study showed that
the CDA presents excellent reuse performance up to four consecutive
cycles. The process optimization was performed using the response
surface methodology based on Box–Behnken design (RSM-BDD).
Accordingly, the optimum predicted removal efficiencies using RSM-BBD
for CV and CR were obtained, respectively, at 96.9 and 89.8% using
a CDA dose of 1.5 g/L, dye concentration of 20 mg/L, pH of 10 for
CV, and pH of 4 for CR. Overall, CDA behaves as an efficient, recyclable,
cheap, and eco-friendly adsorbent for cleaning-up of dyed effluents.