SnO2 nanoparticle-loaded activated carbon for simultaneous removal of Acid Yellow 41 and Sunset Yellow; derivative spectrophotometric, artificial neural network and optimization approach.

The simultaneous adsorption of Acid Yellow 41 (AY41) and Sunset Yellow (SY) onto SnO2 nanoparticle-loaded activated carbon (SnO2-NP-AC with very high BET surface area of 1278.71 m(2) g(-1)) was investigated. To overcome the severe dyes spectral overlapping, derivative spectrophotometric method and principal component analysis-artificial neural network (PCA-ANN) were successfully applied for the simultaneous determination of AY41 and SY in their binary solutions. By using central composite design (CCD) under response surface methodology, the effects of variables such as contact time, adsorbent dosage, pH, AY41 concentration and SY concentration on responses such as binary dyes removal percentages were examined. Optimal values were found to be 17.9 min, 0.024 g, 3.1, and 15.9 mg L(-1) and 18.7 mg L(-1), respectively. In binary solutions, the best fit to modified-extended Langmuir isotherm was obtained for the whole concentration range. In binary solutions, a synergism was observed for the AY41 and SY dyes adsorption onto SnO2-NP-AC. The adsorption rates at various times were analyzed. It indicated a pseudo-second-order kinetic model for the adsorption of both dyes.