www.ijsret.org 542 International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 – 0882 Volume 5, Issue 11, November 2016 REMOVAL OF REACTIVE DYE FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS USING ORANGE AND LEMON PEEL AS BIO- ADSORBENT Arif Eftekhar Ahmed 1 , Dr. Md. Akramul Alam 2 1 M.Sc Scholar, Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, Gazipur, Bangladesh Lecturer, BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology, Uttara, Dhaka Email: Arif.eftekhar.ahmed@gmail.com 2 Professor, Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, Gazipur, Bangladesh Email: akram@duet.ac.bd ABSTRACT The adsorption of Eurozol Navy reactive dye was examined by orange and lemon peel powder considering several parameters as pH, contact time, speed of shaker, temperature and initial dye concentration, single and combined adsorbent dosage. Turbidity and dye extraction parameters also observed. The adsorption obeys both Langmuier and Freundlich isotherm. The removal percentages for orange and lemon peel are 81% and 87% respectively and 91% for combined adsorbent dosages. Key words: Reactive dye, orange, lemon, adsorption, peel, bio adsorbent, isotherm , desorption. 1. INTRODUCTION Reactive dyes commonly used in textile industries for dyeing single cotton or cotton blend fabric. Eurozol Navy is a widely used commercial reactive dye. The aqueous solution contains different color of reactive dyes ranges from 200 to 400 Hazen units which are very toxic and harmful for living and aquatic life [1-2]. A number of non-conventional, low-cost adsorbents have been tried for dye removal. Conventional methods for treating dye containing waste water is coagulation and flocculation, reverse osmosis and activated carbon adsorption [3-6]. These technologies do not show significant effectiveness or economic advantage. Low-cost treatment methods have, therefore, been investigated for a long time. A number of non-conventional, low-cost adsorbents have been tried for dye removal [7-9]. These include, wood, china clay, ullers earth and fired clay, flyash, Wollastonite, Fe(III)/Cr(III) sludge, orange and lemon peels for removal direct dye [10-11],Sugarcane bagasse for removal of sulphur dye, Banana peels for removal acid dyes and azoic colour [12-13].This method was successful for removal some textile dyes from aqueous solution but detail study of removal of commercial dyes used in current textile wet processing not done recently[14-15]. Orange and Lemon peels are available and low cost bio adsorbents can be collected from fruit store and juice factories so these adsorbents can be used for removal of reactive dyes very easily. Parameters which affect adsorption of reactive dye such as pH, contact time, speed of shaker, temperature and initial dye concentration, single and combined adsorbent dosage taken under consideration in this study and dye extraction and reduction of turbidity in initial and final condition also measured. Adsorption isotherm such as langmuier and Freundlich isotherm also plotted according to the experiment result to identify that dye adsorption follows those isotherm or not. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 Preparation of Orange and Lemon peel powder 10 kg of orange and Lemon were washed properly by distilled water after collection and their peels were taken out carefully. Those peels were cut in to small pieces and dried under sunlight for 15 days (Orange) and 22 days (Lemon). After drying the dried peels were crushed and sieved carefully by sieve no. 100 which has size 150 μm so that the surface