The effect of alkaline pretreatment on surfactant-modified clinoptilolite for diclofenac adsorption: isotherm, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies

The elimination of diclofenac traces from aqueous environments is important. In this research, the effect of alkaline (NaOH) pretreatment on clinoptilolite before its modification with a surfactant (HDTMA) for diclofenac adsorption under the speculation of the sole presence of diclofenac in the aqueous solution is investigated. The results are compared through isotherm, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies and supplemented by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and the zeta potential analyses. The contact time was investigated in a 0-180-min range. The pH effect was studied in a range of 5-10 because of diclofenac dissociation below pH = 5. The effect of the temperature on diclofenac adsorption was also considered by establishing the experiments at 25, 35, and 45 degrees C. For HDTMA-modified clinoptilolite, Temkin, and for NaOH-HDTMA-modified clinoptilolite, Dubinin-Radushkevich, and Freundlich isotherm models and in both cases, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model fitted the experimental data best. All the enthalpy and the entropy changes were negative, suggesting exothermic adsorption with a decrease in the degree of freedom of diclofenac anions after the adsorption. Furthermore, diclofenac physisorption was confirmed through isotherm and kinetic studies.