Adsorption of methyl violet onto mesoporous MCM-48 from aqueous solution

In this study, hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide and triblock poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) were used as co-templates and tetraethoxysilane was used as silica source to synthesize mesoporous MCM-48, which was employed to adsorb methyl violet dye from water. The prepared MCM-48, after calcination at 550 degrees C, was found to have a high surface area of 1072 m2/g and a pore volume of 1.08 cm3/g. The MCM-48 adsorption of methyl violet in aqueous solution was studied using UV-visible spectrophotometry. Experimental conditions, including initial pH of sample solution, initial concentration, MCM-48 amount, adsorption time and temperature, were also investigated. Results showed that the adsorption behavior could well be depicted by Langmuir equations and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The maximum adsorption capacity of 193.82 mg/g was obtained at 20 degrees C. The values for thermodynamic parameters deltaG0, deltaS0 and deltaH0 were all negative, showing that the MCM-48 adsorption of methyl violet was spontaneous and exothermic.