Investigation of Dye Removal Capability of Blast Furnace Slag in Wastewater Treatment

Sara Yasipourtehrani, Vladimir Strezov, Tao Kan and Tim Evans
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Sara Yasipourtehrani: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Vladimir Strezov: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Tao Kan: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Tim Evans: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Blast Furnace Slag (BFS) is a by-product of the iron ore processing industry with potential to be used in different industrial applications. In this research, BFS was used to examine its ability for dye removal from wastewater. The efficiency of two types of BFS samples for removal of cationic methylene blue (MB) and acidic methyl orange (MO) dyes was investigated and results found that the optimal conditions for treatment of wastewater were 80 g/L of adsorbent dose and 1 h of treatment time for both dyes. BFS was found to be more effective for removal of the acidic MO dye than the cationic MB dye. Under shorter residence times, the results showed reverse trends with BFS samples removing higher concentrations of MB than MO. The BFS chemistry had additional impacts on the efficiency of dye removal. Higher basicity of BFS had lower dye removal ability for adsorption of acidic dye when applied at smaller concentrations, while for cationic dye when applied at higher concentrations. The results showed that BFS has potential role for pre-treatment of industrial wastewater contaminated with dyes and may contribute to reduced use of more expensive adsorbents, such as activated carbons.

Keywords: blast furnace slag; dye removal; wastewater treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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