The Usage of Red Mud and Black Nickel Mud for Removal of Methylene Blue

Dyes are used as a coloured compound and are considered highly toxic to their adverse effects on many forms of life. Adsorption is the most comprehensively used technology due to simplicity, low cost, and effectiveness for removing dyes from water solution. This article discusses the use of adsorbents from waste metal production red mud (RM) and black nickel mud (BNM) for methylene blue removal from water solution. RM was obtained from Ziar n. Hronom (Slovakia) waste from aluminium oxide production from the above mentioned ash pond and BNM was supplied from the waste landfill in Sered (Slovakia) waste from nickel production. The adjusted samples were used as adsorbents in different test conditions, such as time and temperature of sorption and amount of sorbent samples. The experiment was done at the varied amount of sorbent 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 g per 75 ml of sorptive with a fraction of adsorbent particles < 500 mu m. The solution of methylene blue was prepared with a concentration of 50 mg/L. The sorption process was realised by various conditions. The temperature of sorption was 25 degrees C, 40 degrees C and 60 degrees C and the contact time of the sorbent with the sorptive was 1, 2, 3, 24 and 48 hours. From the obtained data, we can claim the best removal efficiency at 60celcius for RM (83.01-83.72% after 48 h) regardless of the amount added to the methylene blue solution. We can conclude that after appropriate treatment, both of these low-cost adsorbents can be an interesting alternative to remove methylene blue using sorption under the right conditions.