Adsorption of methyl red from waste water using banana peel powder as an adsorbent.
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2026
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Busitema University
Abstract
Methyl red is a synthetic dye that can contaminate wastewater from industrial activities and poses potential risks to aquatic ecosystems and human health. This study investigated the potential of banana peel powder as a low-cost and environmentally friendly adsorbent for the removal of methyl red from aqueous solution. Banana peels were washed, dried at 80 °C, ground and sieved to obtain fine powder. The adsorbent was subsequently subjected to chemical treatment using phosphoric acid. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of pH, contact time, initial dye concentration and adsorbent dosage on methyl red removal. The concentration of methyl red before and after adsorption was determined using UV-Visible spectrophotometry at a maximum wavelength of 520 nm. Adsorption kinetics were evaluated using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models, while equilibrium behaviour was assessed using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models.
The results showed that methyl red removal increased with increasing contact time, reaching equilibrium at approximately 100 minutes, with a maximum removal of 63%. Increasing the adsorbent dosage from 0.10 to 0.60 g increased the percentage removal from 29.0% to 92.4%, although the adsorption capacity per unit mass decreased as the dosage increased. The optimum pH for adsorption was reported as approximately pH 3. The calibration curve showed a strong linear relationship between methyl red concentration and absorbance, with an R² value of 0.9997. The adsorption data were reported to fit the pseudo-second-order kinetic model better than the pseudo-first-order model, suggesting that surface interactions played an important role in the adsorption process.
The findings demonstrate that banana peel powder has considerable potential as an inexpensive and readily available adsorbent for methyl red removal from contaminated water.
Description
Undergraduate research report
Keywords
Citation
Kwemboi, I. K. (2026). Adsorption of methyl red from waste water using banana peel powder as an adsorbent. [Unpublished undergraduate research report]. Busitema University.