The characteristic of East Kalimantan’s low-rank coal as an adsorbent for Methylene Blue (MB) dye removal from simulated textile wastewater

Abstract

As the interest in developing and applying low-cost adsorbents is growing, the purpose of this paper is to introduce East Kalimantan’s low-rank coal as an adsorbent that is abundant in nature but underutilized. This adsorbent was used in a batch adsorption process to remove Methylene Blue (MB) from simulated textile wastewater. The study was conducted at a range of pH values (from 3 to 13) using a variety of low-rank coal adsorbents (60, 80, 100, 120, 140, and 160 mg). Approximately 100 mg/L of MB was added to 100 mL of simulated textile wastewater over 60 minutes using a shaker set to 150 rpm. The pH value and the amount of adsorbent used have a significant effect on removing MB dye. The pH results indicated that the removal of MB dye is relatively constant between pH 3 and 11. However, the removal rate increased when the pH was increased to 12—increased the pH to 13, which resulted in a significant decrease in MB dye removal. Meanwhile, as the adsorbent dosage increased from 60 to 100 mg at pH 12, the removal of MB dye increased and then decreased. At pH 12 and adsorbent dosage of 100 mg, the maximum removal of MB dye was 99.40 %. Thus, East Kalimantan’s low-rank coal is an intriguing alternative for removing MB dye from simulated textile wastewater.