Surface modification of natural clay with H2O2 for high adsorption of acid Red 114: Experimental and modelling studies

Abstract

The water contamination problem caused by dyes and the understanding of their adsorption mechanism in aqueous media is still significant nowadays. This study investigates the adsorption performance of natural montmorillonite clay treated with H2O2 (MMT-H2O2) and employed as an adsorbent to remove Acid Red 114 (AR-114) from aqueous solutions. MMT-H2O2 and the natural clay without treatment (MMT) were analysed using different analytical techniques such as XRF, XRD, FESEM, EDS, FTIR, TGA/DTG, N2-adsorption/desorption curves, CHNS/O analysis, hydrophobicity Index (HI). It also provides a theoretical analysis of the adsorption phenomenon utilising Statistical Physics methods to understand the adsorption mechanism between AR-114 and MMT-H2O2 adsorbent associated with batch adsorption conditions and adsorption equilibrium. The treated clay with H2O2 showed a higher oxygen content and a better adsorption capacity than the untreated one. The maximum adsorption capacity (Qmax) values obtained with the best-fitted model (Liu) ranged from 421.9 and 1178.5 mg g−1. This high adsorption capacity for AR-114 dye can be explained by considering the remarkable characteristics of the MMTH2O2 material, such as high oxygen content, variety of surface functional groups, porous interlayer structure, and hydrophilicity. The computational adsorption results suggest that the AR-114 molecules adsorbed onto the surface site of the MMTH2O2 adsorbent in a perpendicular orientation. This indicates that the n2 values increased as the operating temperature was raised, demonstrating the endothermic accumulation of dye molecules on the treated clay mineral surface. Moreover, the temperature-dependent adsorption energies (E1 and E2) levels were less than 40 kJ mol−1, highlighting the primary physical interactions between AR-114 and MMTH2O2 clay mineral by electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding.