synthesis, characterization and application of montmorillonite/mgfe2o4 nanocomposite for removal of environmental pollutants

Abstract: in this research montmorillonite (mmt) modified with magnesium ferrite (termed as mmt/mg fe2o4) was prepared and then was examined for its dye removal properties. mmt-based adsorbents have relatively complex structural and adsorption properties. mmt has a good cation exchange and expansion capacity [1]. mmt is mineral clay and its derivatives are cheap, abundant and environmentally friendly, which distinguish them as an adsorbent. they can be used directly as a high-performance adsorbent for various cationic contaminants. the purpose of using mmt is to increase the efficiency of wastewater treatment and lower the cost of removing color contaminants. congo red dye (cr) is a benzidine based anionic dye. it is seriously hazard to aquatic living organisms and can cause human carcinogen [2]. in this study, mmt/mgfe2o4 nanocomposite as a novel adsorbent was synthesized by co-precipitation method. the properties of the prepared nanocomposite were investigated by using fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ft-ir), scanning electron microscopy (sem) and x-ray diffraction (xrd) techniques. in order to achieve optimal removal conditions and isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamic studies, the effects of many empirical factors including ph, initial dye concentration, contact time, temperature, the amount of adsorbent, ionic strength and regeneration were investigated. in thermodynamic investigation, δg°, δh° and δs°, were determined and adsorption mechanism was discussed [3]. it was found that, removal efficiency was higher at ph value of 4.0. the results revealed that 50.0 mg of mmt/mg fe2o4 removal was able to remove more than 93% of cr dye from 50.0 ml of 250 mg/l of initial cr dye aqueous solution. the results obtained have shown that the introduced adsorbent reveals excellent dye removal properties and can be used as an efficient adsorbent for dye removal from aqueous solutions. in order to test the reusability of the exhausted adsorbent regeneration study was also carried out.