Removal of Methyl Red using Adsorbent Produced from Empty Fruit Bunches by Taguchi Approach

Contamination of anionic dye in the water streams may cause harm to human being and aquatic species. The conventional adsorbent used in the adsorption process is normally produced using expensive and unsustainable precursor such as coal. In this work, activated carbon was produced through carbonization and activation of raw oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFBs). Taguchi approach was employed to determine the optimum dye removal parameters. The percentages of contribution of each factor in the removal of Methyl Red (MR) by raw EFB and EFB based activated carbon (AC) were determined using analysis of variance (ANOVA). According to ANOVA, for raw EFB, agitation speed has the highest percentage of contribution. As for EFB based AC, the amount of adsorbent is the most significant factor. The optimum parameters for both adsorbents were obtained from mean and S/N ratio. The optimum operating parameters for raw EFB were 25 ppm of initial dye concentration, 0.01 g of adsorbent and 200 rpm of agitation speed whereas the optimum operating parameters for EFB based AC were 20 ppm of initial dye concentration, 0.06 g of adsorbent and 120 rpm of agitation speed. The predicted percentages of dye removal for raw EFB (55.54%) and EFB based AC (86.72%) were in good agreement with the experimental values for raw EFB (50.5%) and EFB based AC (84.61%), respectively. This study provides a useful insight into the practicability of using the Taguchi method in the removal of anionic dye using raw EFB and EFB based AC as adsorbents.