Potential of environmental-friendly, agro-based material Strychnos potatorum, as an adsorbent, in the treatment of paint industry effluent

TLDR: In this article, the effect of bed height, flow rate, and initial concentration of PIE in terms of color removal efficiency was evaluated in a fixed-bed adsorption column (FBC) for water-based paint industry effluent.

Abstract: The study was focused on, to make use of the agro-based material Strychnos potatorum as an adsorbent, for the treatment of simulated water-based paint industry effluent (PIE) in a fixed-bed adsorption column (FBC). The influence of bed height, flow rate, and initial concentration of PIE were evaluated in terms of color removal efficiency. The highest color removal was achieved at a larger breakthrough time, and lengthier mass transfer zone was viewed at the lowest flow rate, lowest initial concentration, and highest bed height used in this study. For a successful design of a FBC, breakthrough curves were made and the experimental data were fitted using well-established models such as: Thomas/Bed depth service time (BDST), Adams–Bohart, Yoon–Nelson, and Wang. From the plot of these models, parameters like adsorption capacity and rate constants were calculated. Mass transfer models like Weber–Morris, Boyd, Urano–Tachkawa, and Mathews–Weber were applied to identify the rate-limiting step of the overa...