Characterization of Two Natural Clays and Their Application as Adsorbents for Treatment Process of Dye Effluents

Abstract

The aim of the present work is to explore and compare the adsorption capacity of two different clays for removal of textile dye from aqueous solutions. For this purpose, the adsorption of Green Remazole 6B; a reactive dye used in textile industry, was studied in batch mode. The clays used were provided from two different deposits in west of Algeria, one located in Ain-Temouchent (C46) and the other in the region of El Bayadh (C32). Before investigating the adsorption of textile dye, the clays were characterized by various techniques of analysis in order to study all the relevant features. The techniques used are: X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy (IR) and Chemical analysis. Chemical analysis and infrared spectroscopy (IR) show that clays are mainly constituted of alumina and silica in major quantities and other elements in minor quantities. XRD analysis shows that C46 is illite clay, contaning kaolinite, smectite and quartz. On the other hand, C32 is kaolinite clay with presence of illite, smectite, chlorite and quartz. To investigate the adsorption of the textile dye, clays have been previously modified by acid treatment with H2SO4 and they were tested in their natural state and in their acid-activated form. Different adsorption tests concerning the contact time, the initial dye concentration and the pH were investigated by conducting a series of batch adsorption experiments at room temperature. The adsorption equilibrium data were analyzed by using Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms models. The results show that Acidic pH was favorable for adsorption of the dye and the Freundlich model agrees very well with experimental data. (C32) clay has the best removal power.