OPTIMIZATION OF CONGO RED DYE ADSORPTION WITH ACTIVATED CARBON FROM THE COB OF CORN (ZEA MAYS L.) BY EXPERIMENTAL PLANS

Several methods and techniques are used for the treatment of polluted water. Among these techniques, adsorption on activated carbon. In this work, it is about the optimization of the elimination of the Congo Red dye by adsorption of the activated carbon prepared from corn cobs using two experimental designs. The carbon prepared has a specific surface of 673.27 m²/g. The effect of varying five factors (solution pH, carbon mass, temperature, stirring time and stirring speed) was studied. The first plan (screening plan or Hadamard plan) showed that there are three parameters (the pH of the solution, the mass of the carbon, the temperature) whose variations have a non-negligible influence on the response. The second design used, the two-level full factorial design, showed that the removal rate of Congo Red increases with the mass of charcoal. Indeed, its maximum value reached is 95.50% under optimal conditions where the pH of the colored solution is 2 at 60°C and with a mass of charcoal of 0.80 g.