An increase in population initiating rapid industrialization was found to consequently increase
the effluents and domestic wastewater into the aquatic ecosystem. In this research the
potentialities of Sambucus nigra L. (SNL) plant in the remediation of water, contaminated
with methylene blue (MB), a basic dye were investigated. SNL was chemically impregnated
with KHCO3. Operating variables studied were pH, amount of adsorbent and contact time.
In general, pH did not have any significant effect on colour removal and the highest adsorption
capacity was obtained in 0.035 g MB/g-activated carbon. The Langmuir, Freundlich,
Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption models were applied to describe the equilibrium
isotherms. The adsorption isotherm data were fitted to the Temkin isotherm. The
mass transfer property of the sorption process was studied using Lagergren pseudo-firstorder
and chemisorption pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The sorption process obeyed
the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The surface area, pores volume and diameter were
assessed by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda methods. The results
were compared to those from activated carbon (Merck) and an actual sample. The results
indicate that SNL can be employed as a natural and eco-friendly adsorbent material for the
removal of dye MB from aqueous solutions.