title: Cationic and anionic modifications of oil palm empty fruit bunch fibers for the removal of dyes from aqueous solutions.
abstract: Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibers were employed to remove dyes from aqueous solutions via adsorption approaches. The EFB fibers were modified using citric acid (CA) and polyethylenimine (PEI) to produce anionic and cationic adsorbents, respectively. The CA modified EFB fibers (CA-EFB) and PEI-modified EFB fibers (PEI-EFB) were used to study the efficiency in removing cationic methylene blue (MB) and anionic phenol red (PR) from aqueous solutions, respectively, at different pHs, temperatures and initial dye concentrations. The adsorption data for MB on the CA-EFB fitted the Langmuir isotherm, while the adsorption of PR on the PEI-EFB fitted the Freundlich isotherm, suggesting a monolayer and heterogeneous adsorption behavior of the adsorption processes, respectively. Both modified fibers can be regenerated up to seven adsorption/desorption cycles while still providing as least 70% of the initial adsorption capacity.
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohd Shaiful
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Sajab
authors.forename: Chin Hua
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chia
authors.forename: Sarani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zakaria
authors.forename: Poi Sim
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Khiew
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000838:Anions; D029064:Araceae; D002412:Cations; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions; D014462:Ultrafiltration / Q000379:methods*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000838:Anions; D002412:Cations; D004396:Coloring Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012996:Solutions; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014867:Water