Altering Bentonite Through Acid Treatment: The Use of Rhodamine B in Water Purification
Abstract:
Natural bentonite is an adsorbent that can be easily modified to become a promising adsorbent for the removal of organic and inorganic effluents. In this present work, the natural bentonite of the M'Zila deposit (Mostaganem) was activated with sulfuric acid in order to increase the specific surface and the porosity of this material. The modifications made to the bentonite after its activation were highlighted by BET, X-ray fluorescence as well as the cation exchange capacity. The results found showed that for a low concentration of the acid solution (1N) and at different periods of agitation of the suspension (bentonite / acid), the specific surface area increases with increasing contact time. The results of the elemental chemical analysis obtained by X-ray fluorescence showed the increase in the atomic percentage of sulfur after treatment which was initially 0.28% and that the variation in the atomic percentage of sulfur increases as well with the increase in concentration. acid only with the bentonite / acid solution contact time. In addition, the C.E.C of the four adsorbents obtained after treatment is greatly influenced by the con centration of the acid solution. Natural and treated bentonite was used for the adsorption of Rhodamine B(RhB), the effects of various experimental parameters, such as the initial adsorbent concentration, and the contact time between adsorbent and adsorbate, have been studied.
