Use of a Clay from Southern Ivory Coast (Bingerville) for the Adsorption of Methyl Orange in Aqueous Media

Abstract

Increasing levels of textile dyes being discharged into the environment as industrial waste represent a serious threat to human health, life, resources and ecological systems. It is therefore necessary to treat wastewater from textile industries before discharging it into the environment. The aim of this project is to eliminate methyl orange (MO) from textile industry wastewater using clay from Bingerville (Ivory Coast). The clay used was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and pH of Zero Charge. MO concentration was monitored using a UV-visible spectrophometer. Characterization of the clay by SEM and BET showed that our clay is microporous. The study showed that the surface of our clay has a pH of zero. Adsorption of methyl orange on our clay reaches adsorption equilibrium in 60 minutes. The adsorption model corresponds to the pseudo-order 2 kinetic model. Two adsorption isotherm models (Langmuir and Freundlich) are applicable to the adsorption of our dye on clay. This implies that the dye adsorption process on our clay is governed by a bimolecular process involving a collision between an active site on the clay and a dye molecule. Bingerville clay can be used to effectively treat dye-contaminated wastewater, since the maximum adsorbed quantity is equal to 58.139 mg g<sup>-1</sup>. The best adsorption rate was obtained in acid medium (pH = 2.26) with an adsorption rate of 91.84%.