Adsorption of anionic dyes on poly(epicholorohydrin dimethylamine) modified bentonite in single and mixed dye solutions

The performance of poly(epicholorohydrin dimethylamine) modified bentonite (EPIDMA/bentonite) as an adsorbent to remove anionic dyes, namely Direct Fast Scarlet, Eosin Y and Reactive Violet K-3R, was investigated in single, binary and ternary dye systems. In adsorption experiments in single dye solutions, the adsorption of the three dyes onto EPIDMA/bentonite was described by the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. At low dosage of EPIDMA/bentonite, preferential adsorption was observed for the dye with higher affinity to the adsorbent in mixed dye systems. The reduction in uptake of the dye with increasing equilibrium dye concentration in the isotherm and desorption in the kinetic curves were observed for the dye with lower affinity. The total amount of dyes adsorbed versus the total equilibrium dye concentrations were fitted well by the Langmuir isotherm model. The kinetics of the total adsorbed amount of dyes followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The effect of the dosage of adsorbent on color removal efficiency, residual color distribution and adsorption kinetics was investigated.