Removal of Methylene Blue Dye from Aqueous Media using Chitosan/nSiO2 Nanocomposite: Fixed-Bed Adsorption Experiment, MLR and GA Modelling

Bhattacharya S, Ghosh P, Bar N, Rajbansi B and Das SK

Published on: 2025-01-22

Abstract

The current investigation employed Chitosan/nSiO₂ Nanocomposite (CSNC) as an adsorbent for removing Methylene Blue (MB) from an aqueous medium by a fixed-bed continuous column. The adsorption experimentations were executed at optimum pH 10, optimized in the batch study [1]  under variable operating conditions, viz. bed depths (3-7 cm), flow rates (10-30 mL min^-1), column diameters (1.5 cm, 1.8 cm), and MB concentration (10-30 mgL^-1). The removal of MB was raised with bed depth and the inner diameter of the column but was reduced with influent flow rate and influent dye concentration. Seven kinetic models were tested with the experimental data. The Thomas model was established to be the best-fit model correlated to a bed height of 5 cm, an inner diameter of column 1.5 cm, an influent flow rate of 10 cm³ min^-1, and an influent MB concentration of 30 mgL^-1. The regeneration study was performed, and the scale-up design was also proposed. The potential application of multiple linear regression (MLR) (R² > 0.97) and genetic algorithm (GA) techniques (R² = 0.99) to forecast the elimination of MB is also verified.