In the present study, the adsorption of a textile dye direct blue 86 was studied through a fixed-bed column by using a carbon-alumina composite pellet. The adsorbent was developed by using microwave assisted activated carbon and commercial alumina. In order to find out the batch adsorption characteristics various adsorption isotherms such as, Langmuir, Freundlich and Tempkin were investigated and the corresponding monolayer capacity was found to be 500.16 mg/g. The fixed – bed column was used to investigate the dynamic adsorption characteristics where the effects inlet dye concentration (50–200 mg/L), feed flow rate (5 – 15 mL/min) and activated carbon bed height (5.04 – 10.16 cm) on the adsorption breakthrough were also investigated. The maximum removal capacity in the column study was found to be 142.67 mg/l with an initial dye concentration and flowrate of 100 mg/l and 12 ml/min according to Bohart-Adams model. The breakthrough behavior was also effectively described by the Yoon-Nelson and Clark model.
