Bokbunja wine industry waste as precursor material for carbonization and its utilization for the removal of procion red MX-5B from aqueous solutions

Bokbunja (wild raspberry) seed waste from the Bokbunja wine industry is a serious environmental problem due to the increasing popularity of Bokbunja wines in recent years. In the present study, Bokbunja seeds were carbonized and used as an adsorbent for the removal of Procion Red MX-5B. A batch of carbon was further treated with n-hexane to remove excess seed oil and used separately as an adsorbent for comparison. There was a slight variation in the adsorption capacities of n-hexane untreated (HUTC) and n-hexane treated carbon (HTC). The adsorption capacities predicted by the Langmuir isotherm were 29.37 and 30.65 mg/g for HUTC and HTC, respectively. The adsorption was found to be dependant on initial pH, contact time and initial dye concentration. The dye removal rates were higher at pH 2, while equilibrium time was achieved at 120 min. Kinetic studies showed a pseudo-first-order rate of adsorption. The results show that Bokbunja carbon could be used as a potential adsorbent for dye removal from wastewaters.