Activated carbon/bentonite/Fe3O4 nanocomposite for treatment of wastewater containing Reactive Red 198

The purpose of this study was the synthesis of activated carbon/bentonite/Fe3O4 nanocomposite for the elimination of Reactive Red 198 (RR198) anionic dye from aqueous media. The physical properties of the nanocomposite were investigated using BET, EDX, Map, SEM, FTIR, VSM, XRD, and DLS analyses. DLS analysis showed that the size of the aforementioned nanocomposite was 70.7 nm. VSM analysis showed that the nanocomposite has a ferromagnetic property. BET analysis indicated that the nanocomposite has a mesoporous structure. The results showed that the highest removal efficiency of MV dye (94.87%) was obtained at pH 8, contact time of 50 min, temperature of 25 degrees C, initial dye concentration of 5 mg/L, and composite dosage of 2 g/L, which indicated a significant sorption efficiency. Also, the equilibrium and kinetic studies showed that the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model could better describe the sorption process of RR198 by the activated carbon/bentonite/Fe3O4 nanocomposite than other models. Besides, the thermodynamic study indicated that the sorption process was exothermic.