Removal of Reactive Red 195 from aqueous solutions by adsorption on the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles

Nanoparticles of TiO₂ were synthesized and characterized by XRD, BET, TG/DTA and TEM measurements. The commercial azo dye Reactive Red 195 (RR195) was selected as a model dye in order to examine the adsorption capacity of TiO₂ at room temperature, under dark conditions. It was demonstrated that RR195 could be efficiently adsorbed in aqueous suspension of TiO₂. A study on the effects of various parameters like initial pH, concentration of dye and concentration of adsorbent has been carried out in order to find optimum adsorption conditions. The optimum pH of sorption was 3. Substantial reduction of COD, besides removal of colour, was also achieved. The experimental data were analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models. Equilibrium data fitted very well with the Langmuir model signifying the energetic homogeneity of TiO₂ surface adsorption sites. At the temperature of 30 °C, the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity obtained from the Langmuir model is 87 mg/g (pH 3.0). Kinetic studies were carried out and showed a rapid sorption of dye in the first 30 min while equilibrium was reached at 1 h. Three kinetic adsorption models were used to describe the kinetics data, the pseudo-first-order model, the pseudo-second-order model and the intraparticle diffusion model. The sorption kinetics of dye was best described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model.