Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite for efficient removal of basic Fuchsin dye from aqueous solutions: Synthesis, characterization and adsorption process optimization using BBD-RSM modeling

Abstract

The current study reports the first use of Fe-ZSM-5 as a potential adsorbent for textile effluent purification. The Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite was synthesized through a hydrothermal method using tetrapropylammonium bromide as an organic structure-directing template for application as a binder for basic Fuchsin (BF) dye from aqueous media. SEM observations confirmed that Fe-ZSM-5 exhibits a granular shape with a quasi-hexagonal structure, which is in agreement with its crystallinity demonstrated by XRD analysis. FTIR analysis indicates the abundance of SiOH groups on the Fe-ZSM-5 surface. N2 adsorption-desorption measurement showed the microporous structure (pore size around 1.93 nm) of Fe-ZSM-5 with a BET surface area of 399 m2/g. The uptake performance of Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite for BF dye was systematically studied as a function of different operational parameters. The experimental adsorption data were in good agreement with pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm with a maximum adsorbed amount of 251.87 mg/g. BF dye adsorption onto Fe-ZSM-5 was a spontaneous and endothermic phenomenon. The binding mechanism is attributed to electrostatic interactions combined with H-bonding. Further, the response surface modeling permits us to optimize BF dye adsorption process. The highest BF dye removal performance was found to be 99.6 % under optimum conditions of pH 5, Fe-ZSM-5 dose 0.75 g/L, initial BF concentration 10 mg/L for 120 min at 20 °C. The findings of this work revealed that Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite could be proposed as an alternative adsorbent with outstanding performance for BF dye removal from wastewaters.