LAUSR

A continuous study was carried out in the up-flow packed bed column to remediate the Reactive Orange 16 (RO16) using biochar derived from coconut shell as a low-cost adsorbent. The sorption mechanism in the continuous process was carried out by studying the influencing parameters namely bed depth, solute flow rate and initial dye concentration. The continuous study explored a maximum uptake capacity of 46.63 mg/g at a bed depth of 25 cm, a flow rate of 0.3 L/h and an initial dye concentration of 100 mg/L. Mathematical modeling such as the Thomas model, modified dose– response model and Yoon–Nelson model was performed to fit the experimental data. Regeneration studies were carried out using 0.01 M NaOH and resulted in 99.7% desorption efficiency. The sorption–elution study concluded that the biochar can undergo three sorption–elution cycles.