FIXED-BED COLUMN BIO-SORPTION OF CONGO RED BY WATER HYACINTH STEMS FROM INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS

Inpresent study, the ability of water hyacinths to adsorb Congo red (CR) from aqueous solutions were investigated in a fixed-bed column. Effects of important parameters, such as the value of initial pH, existed salt, the flow rate, the influent concentration of CR and bed depth, were assessed. The Thomas model was applied to adsorption of CR at different flow rate, influent concentration to predict the breakthrough curves and to determine the characteristic parameters of the column' suitability for process design using non-linear regression.
Bed-depth/service time analysis (BDST) model was also applied at different bed depths to predict the breakthrough curves. The two models were found suitable for describing the biosorption process of the dynamic behavior of the water hyacinths column.
Quoted results have suggested that water hyacinths as adsorbent to removal CR from solution be efficient, and the rate of biosorption process be rapid. When the flow rate was 0.5 ml min−1 and the influent concentration of CR was 30 mg l−1, the equilibrium adsorption biomass reached 109 mg g−1 according to Thomas model.