Coloured wastewater is released as a direct result of the production of dyes as well as from
various other chemical industries. Many dyes and their breakdown products may be toxic
for living organisms. Activated carbon is one of the best materials for removal of dyes from
aqueous solutions. The present study describes the adsorption behaviour of methylene blue
dye on three microporous activated carbons, where two samples (AC-1 and AC-2) were prepared by a polymer blend technique and the other is a microporous activated carbon (ARY-3) sample from viscose rayon yarn prepared by chemical-physical activation. The effects of
contact time and activated carbon dosage on decolourisation capacity have been studied.
The results show that activated carbon having mixed microporosity and mesoporosity show
tremendous decolourisation capacity for methylene blue. In addition, the activated carbon
in the powder form prepared by the polymer blend technique shows better decolourisation
capacity for methylene blue than the activated rayon yarn sample.
Key words: activated carbons, polymer blend technique, methylene blue adsorption, viscouse
rayon, decolourisation