Abstract

This study indicates kaolinite clay as an effective adsorbent for the uptake of Cu (II) from wastewater. The adsorption process was studied with variation of time, temperature and adsorbent dosage at the effluent pH of 6. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer Emmett and Teller (BET) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the adsorbents. XRD spectra showed that modification with KH2PO4 did not significantly change the crystal spacing on the lattice structure of the clay mineral; however, there were shifts in the intensity of the peaks for the modified kaolinite clay. The FTIR spectra showed that certain functional groups are responsible for binding the metal ions from solution. SEM indicated an increase in the porosity of the modified adsorbent as compared with the unmodified kaolinite, which enhances metal ion adsorption on modified kaolinite clay. The BET indicate that acid modification increased the surface area and total pore volume of the kaolinite clay. The kinetic study revealed that the pseudo-first-order model fitted poorly to the equilibrium data, however, the pseudo-second-order model had a good fit for all reaction time at different initial concentrations. The mechanism of the sorption process was evaluated using thermodynamic properties such as enthalpy change (ΔH), Gibbs free energy change (ΔG), and entropy change (ΔS), which were evaluated using Van’t Hoff equations. The negative values of free energy change (ΔG), suggests spontaneity and feasibility of the process. The positive values of enthalpy change (ΔH) indicate endothermic nature of the process.

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