Adsorption efficiency of malachite green dye (MG) using a novel composite adsorbent based on synthesized alumina/acid-activated clay
Fatima Zohra Soufal, A. Zehhaf, Bendoukha Abdelkrim Reguig, Faiza Chouli
Abstract
ABSTRACT Our study aims to prepare a novel composite adsorbent via physical mixing process by using synthesized alumina from alum with acid activated clay (Alumina/H + Clay) and estimate their efficiency for malachite green dye (MG) adsorption. The characterization of Alumina/H + Clay composite was performed using various analyses techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, SEM, surface area analysis (BET), and pH pzc . Furthermore, the effects of pH dye solution, adsorbent mass, initial concentration, and contact time on the adsorption process were investigated. Our results demonstrated that the prepared Alumina/H + Clay composite is a mesoporous material with a pore volume and specific surface area of 0.58 cm 3 /g, 89.02 m 2 /g respectively. The experimental data fit well with Langmuir isotherm with a maximum adsorption capacity of 243.06 mg/g. In addition, the kinetic parameters showed that the adsorption of MG dye followed the pseudo-second-order model. The obtained thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption occurred spontaneously at different temperatures and the process was endothermic. Therefore, this study demonstrated that prepared Alumina/H + Clay composite is an excellent adsorbent for MG dye and it could be used as an effective and promising adsorbent material for dyes.