Efficient Removal of Oxytetracycline and Some Heavy Metals from Aqueous Solutions by Mg-Al Layered Double Hydroxide Nanomaterial

Abstract

Mg–Al LDH nanoparticles with nitrate intercalated anions, as an adsorbent, was prepared through coprecipitation technique of solutions of magnesium nitrate hexahydrates and aluminum nitrate (with percentage 3:1 molar ratio respectively). The nanomaterial was characterized before and after adsorption of some pollutants in wastewater by XRD, FT-IR, BET surface area, zeta potential, FESEM and HRTEM. The adsorption capability of the adsorbent was studied with regard to several pollutants in wastewater like (copper, zinc, iron, cobalt, nickel metal ions and oxytetracycline) in single solution. Various factors such as pH (3-10), dose of Mg-Al LDH ( 0.025-0.2g), concentration of metal ions (15-60 ppm) and effect of shaking time (5-120 min) were applied to optimize the removal ability of Mg-Al LDH. The adsorption efficiency of the pollutant by Mg-Al LDH was calculated, the kinetics and the isotherm of adsorption strength over the adsorbent were further studied.