Sonosynthesis of Iron-Supported Clay for Heavy Metal Removal via Sonoassisted Adsorption Process

Abstract

In this paper, iron-supported natural Sbih clay (Fe–Sb) was prepared by pillared method under ultrasound energy. Fe–Sb was used to remove Ni(II) and Zn(II) from aqueous effluents via sonoassisted adsorption process. To characterize the produced clay material, surface area, mineralogical composition of clay material and interlayer spacing changes of the prepared sample Fe–Sb were identified. The sonoassisted adsorption process via batch method was optimized, and the impacts of feed pH, initial concentration of metal ion, contact time and Zn(II) and Ni(II) ions adsorbent dose were studied. Kinetic data were also tested using pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion kinetic models. The sonoadsorption kinetic was well fitted by pseudo-first-order kinetic model. Langmuir as Freundlich models has been applied to calculate adsorption data. Langmuir data indicate that Fe–Sb material can adsorb around 5780 mg g−1 and 2590 mg g−1 of zinc and nickel per each gram, respectively. To evaluate the regeneration of the Fe–Sb in the industrial application, the adsorption tests were done in a continuous adsorption system in six cycles. The results suggested that iron-supported natural Sbih clay is suitable as an effective adsorbent material for retaining heavy metals from aqueous effluents.