The unique property of biochar, synthesized from a green seaweed (Ulva lactuca), to remediate complex Remazol dye bearing wastewater was investigated. Preliminary trials were targeted to explore the remediation capacity of biochar towards each of Remazol dyes (Remazol brilliant blue R (RBBR), Remazol brilliant orange 3R (RBO3R), Remazol brilliant violet 5R (RBV5R), and Remazol Black B (RBB)) in single-solute system. The results show that equilibrium pH played a vital part with maximum sorption observed at pH 2.0. The isotherm experiments confirmed that biochar exhibited high uptakes of 0.301, 0.292, 0.265, and 0.224 mmol/g for RBO3R, RBBR, RBV5R, and RBB, respectively. Due to the presence of multiple dyes as well as high concentration of auxiliary chemicals, the performance of biochar to remediate Remazol effluent was inhibited markedly compared to single solute systems. Nevertheless, the dye removal efficiency was above 77.5% and the decolorization rate was high with more than 95% of total dye decolorization completed within 240 min. Our results provide novel insights into the potential of biochar to remove Remazol dyes from complex dye wastewaters.
Keywords: Biochar; dyes; effluent treatment; seaweeds; wastewater.