Riti Thapar Kapoor, Mohd Rafatullah, Aseem Vashisht, Mahboob Alam, Masoom Raza Siddiqui, Andi Kurniawan, Nurul Huda
The present study deals with the preparation of carbon-based adsorbents from waste plastic bottles (PETCA) and their application for the removal of basic blue 41 (BB41 dye). The pH of 10, an adsorbent dose of 1.5 g, and a contact time of 45 min for BB41 dye concentration (150 mg L−1) exhibited the highest 93% dye decolorization efficacy by PETCA. The Langmuir isotherm model (LIM) best fitted the experimental data (R2 = 0.918), whereas the kinetic results were well explained by pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetics (R2 > 0.977). Gibbs’ free energy (ΔGo) exhibited that the sorption phenomenon was feasible and spontaneous, the enthalpy changes (ΔHo) −29.179 kJ mol−1 and entropy (ΔSo) 87.96 J K−1 were recorded for PETCA. The reutilization study showed a high sorption efficacy of PETCA. The PETCA showed 44% BB41 dye removal capacity after five successive cycles. The PETCA-treated BB41 dye solution enhanced the growth and biochemical parameters of barley compared to treatment with the BB41 dye solution. This investigation clearly reveals that PETCA can be used directly after its synthesis without any further modification. This clearly demonstrates the potential of PETCA as a highly efficient, eco-friendly, and sustainable adsorbent for the removal of dye from wastewater. © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Centre for Plant and Environmental Biotechnology, Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India; Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia; University Centre for Research and Development, Chandigarh University, Mohali, India; Division of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Dongguk University, Gyeongju-si, South Korea; Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia; Postgraduate School, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
