The adsorption properties of methylene blue dye, Bismarck brown Y dye, and Indigo dye on Cedrus libani(Elizabeth leaf) was investigated as a function of contact time, initial dye concentration, biomass dose, pH, dissolved salts, biomass particle size and temperature.
The biomass was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), as well as Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscope (FTIR) before and after adsorption in order to determine the functional groups responsible for the adsorption. The amount of the dye adsorbed per unit mass of the biomass (qe) was calculated and found to be dependent on all the variables investigated. Optimal pH of 2 was determined for the adsorption of Bismarck brown Y dye and Indigo dye, while a pH of 4was determined as the optimal pH for the methylene blue dye. Indigo dye was found to be the least adsorbed while Methylene blue dye was the most adsorbed. The adsorption pattern was fitted for Langmuir adsorption isotherm model.