Removal of Methylene blue from saline solutions by adsorption and electrodialysis

In this study, the removal of MB from saline solutions was evaluated by two methods by adsorption and electrodialysis; the adsorption of the mixture dye/salt on dried orange peel waste (OPW) was studied in batch method. In this study the biosorption of cationic dye by OPW was investigated as a function of initial solution pH, and initial salt (sodium chloride) concentration. The maximal dye uptake at pH >= 3.6 in the absence and in the presence of salt and the dye uptake diminished considerably in the presence of increasing concentrations of salt up to 8 g/L. The Redlich Peterson and Langmuir were the most suitable adsorption models for describing the biosorption equilibrium data of the dye both individually and in salt containing medium. As well, this work deals with the electrodialysis application to remove the dye. Synthetic solutions were used for the investigation of the main operational factors affecting the treatment performance; such as applied voltage, pH, initial dye concentration and ionic strength. The experimental results for adsorption and electrodialysis confirmed the importance of electrostatic interactions on the dye. The electrodialysis process with standard ion exchange membranes enabled efficient desalination of cationic dye solutions; there are two main factors in fouling: electrostatic interaction between cations of dyes and the fixed charged groups of the CEM, and affinity interactions.