Improved removal of methylene blue on modified hierarchical zeolite Y: Achieved by a “destructive-constructive” method

Abstract

Abstract In this study removal of methylene blue (MB) from an aqueous solution by zeolite (NaY) and related modified hierarchical zeolite (MY) has been investigated. The NaY zeolite with a low ratio of Si/Al was synthesized from silica extracted rice husk ash. It was transformed to hierarchical zeolite (MY) by a “destructive-constructive” modification method using tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAOH) and a cationic surfactant (Cetyltrime-thylammonium bromide, CTAB) as a templating agent. Various characterization method like FT-IR, XRF, XRD, BET, TGA, SEM and BJH confirmed the construction of parent zeolite and also successfulness of the modification process. EDX showed a negligible change of Si/Al ratio during modification which is favorite in adsorption of cationic MB dye. In order to study the interaction between the surface of adsorbent and adsorbate, six common isotherms were used. By Langmuir isotherm, it is clarified that, the maximum adsorption capacity (qm) had improvement from 15.2 mg g-1 to 133.1 mg g-1 for NaY and MY, respectively. The kinetic studies showed that the adsorption obeys the Pseudo-second order model for both NaY and MY zeolites. Also, the usage frequency of the MY was investigated. Results showed that there was not any noticeable change in performance of adsorption after four circles.