Adsorption of Anionic Dyes from Aqueous Solution on Zeolite from Fly Ash-Iron Oxide Magnetic Nanocomposite

Abstract

Magnetic zeolite/iron oxide nanocomposite was prepared by mixing zeolite syn- thesized from coal fly ashes with magnetite nanoparticles in suspension and was used for the removal of Reactive Orange 16 (RO16) and Indigo Carmine (IC) from aqueous solu- tions. The effect of various experimental parameters such as contact time, pH, adsorbent dose and temperature were investigated. The experimental data were analyzed using the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order adsorption kinetic models. The experimen- tal data fit the second-order kinetic model. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm mod- els were tested for their applicability. Results indicated that according to the Langmuir isotherm, the maximum sorption capacities are 1.1 and 0.58 mgg −1 for RO16 and IC, re- spectively. Thermodynamic parameters showed that adsorption of dyes were endothermic and spontaneous in nature. PACS: 68.43.-h, 68.43.Mn, 68.43.-Jk