A Green Approach to the Removal of Malachite Green Dye from Aqueous Medium Using Chitosan/Cellulose Blend

The usage of a cost-effective, eco-friendly, and highly efficient adsorbent for the removal of dye from an aqueous solution is presented in this paper. This work focuses on the prospective use of chitosan/cellulose blend to remove malachite green (MG) from an aqueous medium. Results revealed that the maximum adsorption of the dye occurs within 30 min of the experiment. The SEM images exhibited a change in their surface morphology upon the adsorption of dye. The adsorption isotherm of MG fits the Langmuir and Freundlich equations and follows the pseudo-second-order rate equation. Freundlich isotherm exhibited the maximum adsorption capacity of 115.1 mg/g when compared to Langmuir isotherm. 98.65% of dye degradation is observed at room temperature for an adsorbent dosage of 0.2 g per 30 ml initial dye concentration. R_L, dimensionless constant separation factor evaluated at room temperature in the present study is 0.1488, which specifies that the adsorption is favorable. Current analysis and its comparison studies with other reports on adsorbents conclude that the chitosan/cellulose blend can be considered a cost-effective choice for the removal of MG.