Synthesis of activated carbon-surfactant modified montmorillonite clay-alginate composite membrane for methylene blue...

In this research work, a novel composite membrane was synthesized from activated carbon (AC) derived from sesban, sodium benzyl dodycyel sulphate (SBDS) treated montmorillonite (MMT) clay and alginate (alg) for the adsorption of methylene-blue (MB) dye. The AC-MMT-alg composite membranes were characterized using analytical characterizations such as FTIR, SEM, EDX and TGA analysis. Several important factors like initial solution pH, contact time, membrane dose, MB concentrations and temperature effect on the adsorption efficiency of membrane were investigated. MB dye adsorption on the synthesized membrane was explained well by pseudo second order equation. Isotherm study showed that MB adsorption data followed Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The adsorption capacity of membrane for MB was 1429 mg/g from aqueous solution. Thermodynamic study confirmed endothermic and spontaneous MB adsorption on the adsorbent. The mechanistic path way indicated that electrostatic forces were involved in this adsorption process. The synthesized membrane proved an efficient adsorbent for MB adsorption from aqueous media.