Sorption of SPADNS azo dye on polystyrene anion exchangers: Equilibrium and kinetic studies

The sorption of SPANDS from aqueous solution onto the macroporous polystyrene anion exchangers of weakly basic Amberlyst A-21 and strongly basic Amberlyst A-29 in a batch method was studied. The effect of initial dye concentration and phase contact time was considered to evaluate the sorption capacity of anion exchangers. Equilibrium data were attempted by various adsorption isotherms including the Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) models. A comparison of kinetic models applied to the adsorption rate constants and equilibrium sorption capacities was made for the Lagergren first-order, pseudo second-order and Morris–Weber intraparticle diffusion kinetic models. The results showed that the adsorption isotherm is in the good agreement with the Langmuir equation and that the adsorption kinetics of SPADNS on both anion exchangers can be best described by the pseudo second-order model.