activated carbon. The results revealed that fly ash, one of the industrial wastes, can
be used as low-cost and effective adsorbent for the removal of acid magenta dye
from aqueous solution.
Keywords Acid magenta, Activated carbon, Fly ash, Wastewater treatment
1 Introduction
Water, food, and energy are the three main components which ensure human
survival. The access to adequate power supply is essential for socioeconomic
development of a country. In India, approximately 70% electricity is generated
through the coal-based thermal power plants. According to Jambhulkar et al. [1],
coal fly ash is produced in India approximately 120 million tons/year from more than
85 thermal power plants which may increase to 442 million tons/year by the year
2035. The management of huge quantity of fly ash is a challenging task for thermal
power plant. Fly ash is used as a supplementary material in the production of cement
[2], aerated concrete [3], clay bricks [4], etc. It can also be used as an agricultural
fertilizer and soil conditioner due to its high water retention capacity [5]. Although
the use of fly ash has been significantly increased from 8 to 70% from 1997 to 2010,
still approximately 40% of the fly ash remain unused [6]. Fly ash pollutes water
resources and soil if it is directly dumped into the environment [7]. Fly ash contains
many heavy metals and trace elements which enters in the food chain and adversely
affect human health [8]. Fly ash causes various disorders in human beings such as
asthma, bronchitis, silicosis, allergy, fibrosis, cancer, etc. [9].
Dyes are extensively used in textile, paper, leather tanning, printing, plastic,
cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries [10, 11]. Dyes are undesirable type of
pollutant, and presence of dye even at very low concentration (1 mg/L) in the
effluent is visible [12]. The discharge of dye-contaminated effluent into the water
bodies may cause oxygen depletion, eutrophication, and adverse impact on entire
aquatic ecosystem. Synthetic dyes adversely affect human health due to their acute
or chronic toxicity and mutagenic, carcinogenic, genotoxic, cytotoxic, and immune
suppression effects [13, 14]. Many physical and chemical techniques such as
photocatalytic degradation [15], nanofiltration [16], coagulation/flocculation [17],
electrochemical treatment [18], and ozonation [19] have been developed for the
removal of dyes from industrial effluent. The drawbacks associated with the
abovementioned techniques are long operation time, high cost of application, intensive energy requirement, complex procedure, unable to completely remove the dyes,
and waste generation. Activated carbon is capable of adsorbing dyes due to its high
adsorption capacity, but it is in limited use due to its high cost [20]. The application
of fly ash as an adsorbent in treatment of industrial effluent not only removes dye but
also eliminates the problem of fly ash disposal. Fly ash is available at zero cost, and it
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R. T. Kapoor
be used as low-cost and effective adsorbent for the removal of acid magenta dye
from aqueous solution.
Keywords Acid magenta, Activated carbon, Fly ash, Wastewater treatment
1 Introduction
Water, food, and energy are the three main components which ensure human
survival. The access to adequate power supply is essential for socioeconomic
development of a country. In India, approximately 70% electricity is generated
through the coal-based thermal power plants. According to Jambhulkar et al. [1],
coal fly ash is produced in India approximately 120 million tons/year from more than
85 thermal power plants which may increase to 442 million tons/year by the year
2035. The management of huge quantity of fly ash is a challenging task for thermal
power plant. Fly ash is used as a supplementary material in the production of cement
[2], aerated concrete [3], clay bricks [4], etc. It can also be used as an agricultural
fertilizer and soil conditioner due to its high water retention capacity [5]. Although
the use of fly ash has been significantly increased from 8 to 70% from 1997 to 2010,
still approximately 40% of the fly ash remain unused [6]. Fly ash pollutes water
resources and soil if it is directly dumped into the environment [7]. Fly ash contains
many heavy metals and trace elements which enters in the food chain and adversely
affect human health [8]. Fly ash causes various disorders in human beings such as
asthma, bronchitis, silicosis, allergy, fibrosis, cancer, etc. [9].
Dyes are extensively used in textile, paper, leather tanning, printing, plastic,
cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries [10, 11]. Dyes are undesirable type of
pollutant, and presence of dye even at very low concentration (1 mg/L) in the
effluent is visible [12]. The discharge of dye-contaminated effluent into the water
bodies may cause oxygen depletion, eutrophication, and adverse impact on entire
aquatic ecosystem. Synthetic dyes adversely affect human health due to their acute
or chronic toxicity and mutagenic, carcinogenic, genotoxic, cytotoxic, and immune
suppression effects [13, 14]. Many physical and chemical techniques such as
photocatalytic degradation [15], nanofiltration [16], coagulation/flocculation [17],
electrochemical treatment [18], and ozonation [19] have been developed for the
removal of dyes from industrial effluent. The drawbacks associated with the
abovementioned techniques are long operation time, high cost of application, intensive energy requirement, complex procedure, unable to completely remove the dyes,
and waste generation. Activated carbon is capable of adsorbing dyes due to its high
adsorption capacity, but it is in limited use due to its high cost [20]. The application
of fly ash as an adsorbent in treatment of industrial effluent not only removes dye but
also eliminates the problem of fly ash disposal. Fly ash is available at zero cost, and it
262
R. T. Kapoor