Efficient and selective adsorption of methylene blue and methyl violet dyes by yellow passion fruit peel

As an important biomass resource, agricultural waste is of great significance to improve the application value. In this study, the yellow passion fruit peel (Y-PFP) was used as a biosorbent to remove cationic dyes (methylene blue (MB) and methyl violet (MV)) by the simple treatment process. And the effects of pH, contact time, initial dye concentration, ionic strength, and temperature on the adsorption performance of Y-PFP were studied. The adsorption process was consistent with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm. What’s more, the maximum adsorption capacity for MB and MV was 324.7 and 485.4 mg·g−1, respectively. And Y-PFP still exhibited high removal efficiency after five desorption–adsorption cycles. Thus, Y-PFP had highly valuable for the removal of cationic dyes from wastewater with a simple preparation process, low cost, excellent adsorption capacity and selectivity.