Eco-Friendly scolymus hispanicus for the Removal of Basic Blue 41

This study presents the feasibility of used untreated Scolymus hispanicus as a low-cost adsorbent for the adsorptive removal of Basic Blue 41 (BB41), a common pollutant in textile wastewater. The Scolymus hispanicus adsorbent was characterized by Fourier Transform InfraRed (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, and pH zero of point charge (pHzpc) method. The ability of the Scolymus hispanicus in removing the dye color was dependent on contact time, adsorbent dose, initial dye concentration, and solution pH. The optimum adsorption was found at around pH 7; contact time 75 min; adsorbent dose 4 g/L. The maximum percentage dye removal value was 81, 92 % with an initial dye concentration at 5 mg/L.  The adsorption kinetics was best described by pseudo-second-order model for different initial concentrations and the adsorption isotherm follows the Freundlich model.  Thermodynamic parameters such as enthalpy change (∆Hº), free energy change (∆Gº), and entropy change (∆Sº) were studied, and the adsorption process of Basic Blue 41 was found to be endothermic, spontaneous, and physical in nature. The study revealed that the Scolymus hispanicus is a potential adsorbent for effective removal of BB41 from an aqueous solution.