Improvement of phenol removal from aqueous medium by adsorption on organically functionalized Moroccan stevensite

In this work, the adsorption of phenol on natural and organically modified moroccan clay named rhassoul was investigated using the batch equilibrium method. several techniques, such as, x-ray fluorescence analysis (xrf), x-ray diffraction (xrd), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ftir) and thermal analysis (tga/dtg) were used for clays characterization. adsorption experiments were carried out varying initial phenol concentration, ph and contact equilibrium time. the adsorption isotherms of phenol on rhassoul and modified rhassoul by the hdtma surfactant molecules were determined and modeled by langmuir equation. the experimental results indicate that the adsorption was improved by increasing ph and initial concentration of phenol in the solution. experimental and calculated kinetic data for equilibrium are well fitted with the pseudo second order kinetic model. the adsorption isotherm was described satisfactorily using the mathematical model of langmuir with a maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 25 mg.g^-1 for organically-rhassoul. the results indicate that raw and organically modified rhassoul could be used as a low cost adsorbent in wastewater treatment for the elimination of phenolic compounds