Adsorption of Anionic and Cationic Dyes from Aqueous Solution on Non-Calcined Mg-Al Layered Double Hydroxide: Experimental and Theoretical Study

Non-calcined Mg-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) with Mg/Al molar ratio of 3:1 was synthesized using the co-precipitation method. Sorption of anionic (acid blue 25 - AB25, reactive blue 4 - RB4), and cationic (methylene blue - MB) dyes by Mg-Al LDH form aqueous solution was investigated. The effect of solution pH, initial concentration, and contact time were investigated by batch adsorption experiments. The adsorbed amount increases with decrease in pH solution for AB25 and RB4. The cationic dye (MB) solution was insensitive to pH variation and also exhibited a low performance in the kinetic equilibrium studies. While anionic dyes were almost completely extracted from the solution, 90% of the methylene blue remained in solution. The equilibrium data were well described using the Langmuir-Freundlich model for RB4, AB25, and MB dyes with maximum adsorption capacity of 328.90, 246.10, and 43.48 mg/g, respectively. Finally, the mechanism of adsorption involving the dyes and LDH was evaluated using the Monte Carlo approach in the NVT ensemble. The results suggest that molecular simulation can be used to preview quantitatively the dye uptake. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Separation Science & Technology to view the supplemental file.