Natural Iraqi palygorskite clay as low cost adsorbent for the treatment of dye containing industrial wastewater

Abstract

In this study, natural Iraqi low- cost locally available clay (palygorskite) was studied for its potential use as an adsorbent for removal Congo red from aqueous solutions. Batch type experiments were conducted to study the effect of contact time, initial pH of the dye solution, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, and particle size of adsorbent on adsorption capacity of Congo red. The adsorption occurred very fast initially and attains equilibrium within 60 min. When the effect of pH of solution dye on the yield adsorption has been carried in a range of 2-10, the adsorption obtained was nearly the same with very slightly effect of pH and it was reported that above 49.07 mg/g of Cong red by palygorskite clay occurred in the pH range 2 to 10. It was observed that the removal of Congo red increase with increasing initial dye concentration and adsorbent dose, but, adsorption capacity decrease with increasing adsorbent dose. The adsorption capacity increase with decreasing particle size of adsorbent. The equilibrium adsorption data were interpreted using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The obtained results revealed that the equilibrium data closely followed both models, but the Langmuir isotherm fitted the data better. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 99 mg/g at ambient temperature. Results indicate that Iraqi palygorskite clay could be employed as a low cost alternative to commercial activated carbon in wastewater treatment for the removal of colour and dyes.