Sustainable removal of reactive blue 222 dye from aqueous solution using wheat bran

Title

Sustainable removal of reactive blue 222 dye from aqueous solution using wheat bran

Creator

Rao, Aantra; Veerappa Lakshmaiah, Vasantha

Description

Water pollution is one of the major concerns, and establishing a potential sustainable approach can ensure effective water resource management. Textile dye pollution poses a major environmental challenge due to its toxicity and persistence in water bodies. Conventional dye removal methods are often costly and inefficient, necessitating the exploration of low-cost, sustainable adsorbent materials. This research explores the potential of natural wheat bran (WB), an agro-industrial by-product, as an economical and environmentally beneficial bio-adsorbent for the removal of RB222 dye. Adsorbent concentration (0.56?g/100?mL), Initial dye concentration (501000?mg/L), pH (3?11), and contact time were among the major influencing variables assessed to optimise the adsorption process. The structural and morphological changes in wheat bran before and after adsorption were examined to confirm their active role in the adsorption process. Some of the characterisation techniques, like Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Zeta Potential Analysis, were performed to highlight the changes in wheat bran due to Reactive Blue 222 (RB222) adsorption. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of using wheat bran as a low-cost bio-adsorbent for the efficient removal of Reactive Blue 222 dye from wastewater. The findings showed that wheat bran had a high adsorption capacity of 9.65?mg/g with the best dye removal efficiency of 96% under optimal conditions. Adsorption kinetics studies confirmed that the process follows the Freundlich isotherm and the pseudo-second-order model. The desorption study was also performed to examine its regenerative and reusability potential in the removal of dye. The study proves that wheat bran is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly substitute for dye removal from wastewater and emphasises the extension of value addition to agricultural waste in environmental rehabilitation. These findings highlight the potential of agro-waste valorisation in advancing sustainable wastewater treatment technologies. 2026 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Source

Next Materials;Volume;12;Issue;;Article No.;101955;

Date

01-01-2026

Publisher

Elsevier B.V.

Subject

Adsorption Isotherm; Adsorption kinetics; Batch adsorption; Desorption; RB222; wastewater treatment; Wheat bran

Coverage

Rao A., Department of Life Sciences, Christ (Deemed to be University), India; Veerappa Lakshmaiah V., Department of Life Sciences, Christ (Deemed to be University), India

Rights

All Open Access; Gold Open Access

Relation

ISSN: 29498228;

Format

online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nxmate.2026.101955

https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105035241816?origin=resultslist