Drying and evaluation of sugarcane bagasse, as adsorbent of textile dyes present in aqueous solutions

ABSTRACT The inappropriate disposal of effluents generated by the textile industries is considered a major environmental problem because their contaminants cause changes in the natural conditions of the environment where they are discarded. In this context, adsorption processes emerge as an effective treatment technique regarding the cost, flexibility and ease of operation. This research evaluated the sugarcane bagasse drying at temperatures between 60 and 80oC, as well as its potential as a natural adsorbent of synthetic textile dye. Among the models used to describe the drying kinetics, the Page model was the best fit to the experimental data, according to the coefficient of correlation (R2) and test F, in which it was verified that the model is statistically significant and predictive. In the factorial design, the influence of dye concentration, contact time and adsorbed drying temperature were analyzed on the responses variables: amount of dyed adsorbed (qt) and removal of dye concentration (% rem). All variables were statistically significant at a 95% confidence interval, obtaining a maximum value for adsorbed dye of 8.34 mg.g-1 and a percentage of dye reduction of up to 83.4%. Therefore, it can be concluded that sugarcane bagasse is an alternative to activated carbon, which is commonly used in adsorption processes.