Enhanced adsorptive removal of toxic anionic dye by novel magnetic polymeric nanocomposite: optimization of process parameters

Abstract

The novel magnetic manganese ferrite/polyaniline nanocomposite (MnFe2O4-PANI-NC) was prepared for eradication of toxic anionic methyl orange (MO) dye from wastewater at almost neutral pH condition by impregnating polyaniline onto manganese ferrite. The characterization properties of MnFe2O4-PANI-NC was found by XRD, FEGSEM, TEM, FTIR, VSM, and BET analysis to analyze the adsorption process. The MO dye removal efficiency by sono-assisted adsorption was found to be 90.03% at solution pH 6.0 and sonication time 15 min, whereas the batch stirring and shaking gives the MO dye removal of ∼65% to ∼74% at same experimental condition. The adsorption kinetics followed pseudo-second order kinetics model with additional effect of intra-particle diffusion. The linear fitting of isotherm model followed Langmuir isotherm with equilibrium adsorption capacity of 175.44 mg/g at room temperature. The MO dye adsorption mechanism onto MnFe2O4-PANI-NC can be described by the synergistic effect of electrostatic interaction and π–π dispersive bonding between anionic MO dye molecules and positively charged MnFe2O4-PANI-NC surface. The central composite design (CCD) predicts the maximum MO dye removal of 99.01% at optimum condition of sonication time 14 min, MnFe2O4-PANI-NC dose 0.5 g/L and initial methyl orange (MO) dye concentration 10.0 mg/L. The MnFe2O4-PANI-NC is found to be stable even after 5th consecutive cycle of adsorption-desorption without compromising its adsorptive potential. Thus the fabricated MnFe2O4-PANI-NC can be a potential adsorbent material for sono-assisted removal of MO dye for large scale application due to less dependency on solution pH, facile fabrication technique, and rapid as well as decent dye uptake capacity.