Highly adsorptive chitosan/saponin-bentonite composite film for removal of methyl orange and Cr(VI)

Abstract

Robust and simple composite films for the removal of methyl orange (MO) and Cr(VI) have been prepared by combining chitosan, saponin, and bentonite at a specific ratio. There are several composite films (chitosan-saponin-bentonite (CSB)) prepared; among them, the composite films CSB_2:3 and CSB_1:1 have the highest removal efficiency toward MO and Cr(VI) where the maximum removal is 70.4% (pH 4.80) and 92.3% (pH 5.30), respectively. It was found that different types of adsorbate have different thermodynamic properties of the adsorption process; the adsorption of MO onto CSB_2:3, chitosan, and acid-activated bentonite (AAB) proceeded endothermically, while the adsorption of Cr(VI) onto CSB_1:1, chitosan, and AAB proceeded exothermically. The parameters of the adsorption were modeled by using isotherm and kinetic equations. The models of Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, Sips, and Toth were used for fitting the adsorption isotherm data at a temperature of 30, 45, and 60 °C; all of the isotherm models could represent the data well. The result indicates that CSB_2:3 has the highest adsorption capacity toward MO with q_m of 360.90 mg g⁻¹ at 60 °C; meanwhile, CSB_1:1 has the highest adsorption capacity toward Cr(VI) with q_m 641.99 mg g⁻¹ at 30 °C. The pseudo-second-order model could represent the adsorption kinetics data better than the pseudo-first-order equation. The adsorption mechanism was proposed, and the thermodynamic properties of the adsorption were also studied.

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