Synthesis of Na-Alginate templated Montmorillonite-Silica Composite as adsorbent for removal of Rhodamine B

In this study, mesoporous Montmorillonite-Silica composites prepared by using different amount Alginate as sacrificial template, for removal of Rhodamine B is investigated. By alternating Alginate amount it is aimed to switch the porosity of adsorbents thus the adsorption capacities of adsorbents. Synthesized adsorbents had been characterized by using Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and N₂-Ads/Des techniques. It is observed that beside the decrease in the micropore volume, the total pore volume of the adsorbents increased with the increasing of used Alginate amount. The total pore volumes of adsorbents synthesized with different Clay/Alginate ratio (10, 5, 1) were found as 0.116, 0.172, and 0.178 cm³/g, respectively. Batch adsorption studies showed that the maximum removal efficiencies were obtained at acidic conditions and the adsorbents had better fit with Freundlich isotherm. Qm values obtained from Langmuir isotherm were found as 24.47, 31.97 and 28.48 mg/g for synthesized adsorbents. Also, adsorption kinetic studies showed that for all adsorbents, experimental data had good fit to the pseudo-second order kinetics model. The model parameters were found as 5.9,6.3 and 6.5 (10^–3 g/ (mg min). Thermodynamic parameters were also investigated in the study. Negative ∆G^o values pointed out that the adsorption of RhB onto synthesized adsorbents was favorable process. Positive values of ∆Ho and ΔS indicated that the adsorption of RhB on adsorbents were endothermic and rising of randomness during the adsorption of RhB on the surface of the adsorbent. Adsorbents could be recovered at least five times without significant decrease in adsorption capacity.