Utilizing Agricultural Waste for Sustainable Remediation of Textile Dyeing Effluents

The primary focus of the current investigation was to assess the removal of Rhodamine B dye (RhB) from aqueous solutions using pomegranate peel as a green adsorbent. The chemical and morphological characterization of pomegranate peel was conducted through ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and SEM microscopy. The study also investigated various reactional parameters, kinetic, and adsorption isotherm in a batch system. The results revealed that RhB adsorption reaches equilibrium in about 2 hours, with an adsorption capacity of 19.41 mg/g observed at a 50 mg/L of initial RhB concentration. To model the kinetic of RhB adsorption, two well-known models (pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order) were applied. The pseudo-second-order model yielded a superior fit for the kinetic data, as evidenced by analyses of R², RMSE, ARE, and χ² values. Additionally, the findings suggest that the adsorption process is not solely governed by intraparticle diffusion. Furthermore, isotherm analysis revealed that the Langmuir model offered a more accurate fit to the equilibrium data, estimating the maximum removal capacity to be 47.17 mg/g. These findings suggest that pomegranate peel offers a promisingly eco-friendly and cost-effective solution for sustainable remediation of textile dyeing effluents.