Development of organovermiculite-based adsorbent for removing anionic dye from aqueous solution

Abstract

This paper reports on the development of organovermiculite-based adsorbent for removing Congo Red (CR), a model anionic dye, from aqueous solution. The organovermiculite was prepared using hexadecyl trimethylammonium bromide (HDTMAB) with variations in cation exchange capacity (CEC) and was then characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results from the adsorption experiments showed that with the organic modification of 50, 100, and 200% CEC, the adsorption capacity of vermiculite towards CR was greatly improved from 2.6 to 74.07, 175.44 and 192.31 mg/g, respectively, at 298 K. The adsorption isotherm experiment was conducted at different temperatures (298, 308 and 318 K), and it was found that the uptake of CR increased with increasing temperature. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied and the Langmuir model was found to fit the equilibrium data better. The adsorption kinetics was found to follow the pseudo-second-order model. In addition, various thermodynamic parameters such as changes in enthalpy, entropy, and the Gibbs free energy were calculated, showing adsorption to be an endothermic yet spontaneous process. The results indicated that the organovermiculite may be an effective adsorbent for the removal of anionic dyes from wastewater.