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NOMENCLATURE
C0
Initial MB concentration (mg.L-1)
Ct
Effluent MB concentration (mg.L-1)
Cb
Breakthrough concentration (mg.L-1)
F
Linear velocity (cm.min-1)
Ka
Rate constant in BDST model (L.mg-1.min-1)
KBA
Kinetic constant of Bohart-Adams model (L.mg-1.min-1)
KTH
Kinetic constant of Thomas model (L.mg-1.min-1)
N0
Saturation concentration of Bohart-Adams model (mg.L-1)
N0'
Adsorption capacity in BDST model (mg.L-1)
q50%
Breakthrough capacity (mg.g-1)
q
Adsorption capacity of Thomas model (mg.g-1)
Q
Flow rate (mL·min-1)
t
Effluent time (min)
tb
Breakthrough time (min)
te
Exhaustion or saturation time (min)
W
Adsorbent mass (g)
Z
Bed height of column (cm)
INTRODUCTION
Wastewaters discharged from many industries related to textiles, paper, plastics, food, and cosmetics cause water pollution and serious problems to the environment (Pearce et al. 2003; Aksu 2005; Zulfikar & Setiyanto 2013; Milenova et al. 2014). Due to their ease of production and cost-effectiveness, synthetic dyes are preferred in the textile industry compared to natural dyes (Abdul Halim & Kar Mee 2011; Kumar & Tamilarasan 2013). They have complex molecular structures, which make them more stable and difficult to biodegrade (Seshadri et al. 1994; Fewson 1998; Li et al. 2009). Therefore, wastewaters containing dyes are treated before being discharged into water bodies (Elkassimi et al. 1998) by using different conventional methods (Blackburn 2004; Sampedro et al. 2004; Crini 2006; Mustafa et al. 2008). The adsorption technique is widely used and recommended in the treatment of effluents due to its inexpensive nature and ease of use (Aksu 2005). Batch adsorption experiments are generally used for the treatment of small volumes of effluent. Instead, adsorption in a fixed bed column is more applicable due to its low operating cost and the ability of columns to adapt to versatile processes (Cheknane et al. 2012).
Recently, many works have been studied for the development of low-cost adsorbents for water treatment including natural materials, biosorbents, and waste materials from industry and agriculture (Crini 2006; Han et al. 2009; Atshan 2014). Granulated slag (GS) is an industrial by-product in the production of cast iron, which causes a disposal problem. It was converted into an effective adsorbent and used for the removal of organic/inorganic pollutants (Ramakrishna & Viraraghvan 1997; Dimitrova & Mehandgiev 1998; Kostura et al. 2005; Das et al. 2007; Zhou & Haynes 2010). The presence of...