The synergistic effect and microscopic mechanism of co-adsorption of three emerging contaminants and copper ion on gemini surfactant modified montmorillonite

Abstract

Montmorillonite (G-Mt) modified by a gemini quaternary ammonium cationic surfactant (Propyl bis (hexadecyl dimethyl ammonium) chloride, 16-3-16) was used to remove emerging contaminants (ECs) (such as 1H-Benzotriazole (BTA), 5-Methyl-1H-benzotriazole (TTA) and 1-Hydroxybenzotriazole (HOBT)) and Cu2+ from wastewater. Based on the adsorption of the above three ECs in our previous studies, single adsorption of Cu2+ and the simultaneous adsorption of three ECs with Cu2+ on G-Mt were also investigated. G-Mt showed much lower adsorption amount on Cu2+ comparing with original montmorillonite (Ca-Mt) in single adsorption system due to the difficulty of ion-exchange property of G-Mt. In co-adsorption system, three organic pollutants and Cu2+ played a synergistic effect and the adsorption capacity of G-Mt on them increased, the influence sequence of Cu2+ on the adsorption of three ECs or the effect of ECs on the adsorption of Cu2+ both followed as: TTA > BTA > HOBT. The results of FT-IR, EDS and XPS revealed that the complex of Cu2+ and ECs were adsorbed onto G-Mt via forming complexes and hydrophobic interaction in co-adsorption system. The pH experiment showed that the optimum pH of the co-adsorption of ECs and Cu2+ on G-Mt was 5. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations showed that three ECs or ECs combining with Cu2+ were dominantly adsorbed in the interlayer space of G-Mt, which resulted in the arrangement manner of 16-3-16 between the layer of G-Mt before and after adsorption of three organic pollutants was different. Furthermore, by quantitatively analyzing electrostatic potential (ESP) distribution, average local ionization energy (ALIE) distribution and their minimum points on three ECs molecules surfaces, Multiwfn program has been applied to probe the microscopic mechanism. The synergistic effect of co-adsorption will promote enrichment of copper ions and ECs to remove them more efficiently in polluted waters.