Utilization of dye-loaded activated carbon as a potential alternative fuel source: a feasibility study through calorific and thermo-gravimetric analysis.

The disodium salt of Rose Bengal [4, 5, 6, 7-tetrachloro-2', 4', 5', 7'-tetraiodofluorescein] commonly finds application in medical procedures and its removal from aqueous solution is difficult owing to its high molecular weight of 1017.67 g/mol. Activated carbon was prepared from Prosopis juliflora and immobilized into sodium alginate beads and doped with aniline for enhanced adsorption of Rose Bengal. The effect of initial dye concentration, beads' dosage, contact time, and the temperature over the adsorption of Rose Bengal dye were studied. The optimum conditions derived for maximum dye uptake capacity were 4 mg/L of initial dye concentration, contact time of 60 min with the adsorbent dosage of 0.2 g, and temperature of 303 K at neutral pH. The equilibrium data were found to be best fitted for Langmuir -1 model, whereas the kinetics were interpreted through Ho-Mckay's pseudo-second-order equation. The adsorbents were subjected to thermo-gravimetric studies to determine the activation energy under a heating rate of 20 °C/min. The activation energy was computed using Broido's plot and was found to be 35.21 ± 0.84 kJ/mol for the activated carbon, and 16.77 ± 2.19 kJ/mol for the dye-adsorbed beads. The heat capacity was determined through differential scanning calorimetry and was calculated to be 19.41 J/g °C for activated carbon and 39.43 J/g °C for beads post-adsorption of Rose Bengal dye.