The Journal of

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• Dye compounds are the important contaminants  of  the  environment. The dyes are often toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic and can led to allergies and skin problems. Thus, the dye contaminants should be treated before discharge to environment. The aim of this study was the evaluation of efficacy of Cuttle fish bone powder for the  removal of  Reactive Red 198 dye from aqueous solution and investigation of the effect of different parameters on absorption processes.
• This study was performed experimentaly and in laboratory scale. In this research the effect of  initial dye concentration(25 and 50 mg/l), absorbent dosage(1,1/5,2,2/5 gr/100ml), reaction time (10,30,60,120,180 and 240 min) and pH (4,7,10) were investigated. The maximum absorption wave length of dye (&lambda_max) was determined by UV/Vis spectrophotometer (model of SP-3000 Plus) and concentration of the unknown dye was determined by spectrophotometery method. The target absorbent was prepared in laboratory

condition and pulverized by standard ASTM sieves with the range of 60-100 mesh.

Results: According to analysis of absorption spectra, maximum absorption wave length (&lambda_max) of RR198 dye was determined 518 nm. The result showed that increasing absorbent dose from 2 to 2/5gr /100ml in concentrations of 25 and 50 mg/l would lead to increase of the absorption efficiency from 63% to 70% and from 73% to 77%. Initial pH increase from 4 to 10 beacause of releasing of carbonat compounds from absorbent to reaction invironment and change of final pH around 9-9/5, had no effect on the absorption efficiency and for concentrations of 25 and 50 mg/l, absorption efficiency reached from 85% to 73% respectively. Investigation of the effect of dye initial concentration showed that increasing initial concentration of dye from 25 to 50 mg/l and without changing absorbent dose would lead to decrease in the absorption efficiency from 87% to 75% but the absorption capacity (q_e) increased from 1/08 to 1/82. Morever the maximum absorption took place at 30 min of  the first reaction.

Conclusion: Cuttle fish bone powder is a natural and cheap absorbent that can be used for the removal of contaminants in the environment.