The effect of montmorillonite clay in alginate gel beads for polychlorinated biphenyl adsorption: Isothermal and kinetic studies

Beads of alginate montmorillonite have been used as sorbent for polychlorinated biphenyls from aqueoussolutions.The structure and the differences between the different beads were established by IR spectroscopy (FT-IR). Theadsorption at 25 °C has been studied in a batch system, following its kinetics and assessing adsorbent dose, initialPCB concentrations, and pH effects. The results show that increasing the initial concentration of the PCBs and theadsorption time favored the adsorption. Adsorption isotherm data were modeled using Chapman, Freundlich andLangmuir adsorption isotherms and the appropriate parameters were calculated.Adsorption of trichlorobiphenyls on alginate–montmorillonite beads followed a Freundlich isotherm type model,while adsorption of tetra-, penta-, and hexachlorobiphenyls displayed a sigmoid-shaped (S-type) isothermfitting the Chapman sigmoidal equation with the highest non-linear R2 values among the three tested models.By comparing the percentage adsorptions using the same number of beads (same volumes), best removalswere obtained by using alginate montmorillonite beads.Adsorption of trichlorobiphenyls on alginate–montmorillonite beads followed a Freundlich isotherm type model,while adsorption of tetra-, penta-, and hexachlorobiphenyls displayed a sigmoid-shaped (S-type) isothermfitting the Chapman sigmoidal equation with the highest non-linear R2 values among the three tested models.By comparing the percentage adsorptions using the same number of beads (same volumes), best removalswere obtained by using alginate montmorillonite beads.Adsorption of trichlorobiphenyls on alginate–montmorillonite beads followed a Freundlich isotherm type model,while adsorption of tetra-, penta-, and hexachlorobiphenyls displayed a sigmoid-shaped (S-type) isothermfitting the Chapman sigmoidal equation with the highest non-linear R2 values among the three tested models.By comparing the percentage adsorptions using the same number of beads (same volumes), best removalswere obtained by using alginate montmorillonite beads.Adsorption of trichlorobiphenyls on alginate–montmorillonite beads followed a Freundlich isotherm type model,while adsorption of tetra-, penta-, and hexachlorobiphenyls displayed a sigmoid-shaped (S-type) isothermfitting the Chapman sigmoidal equation with the highest non-linear R2 values among the three tested models.By comparing the percentage adsorptions using the same number of beads (same volumes), best removalswere obtained by using alginate montmorillonite beads. Kinetic models were investigated to determine the mechanism of adsorption showing a best fit for the pseudo second order model (R2 from 0.998 to 0.982. Moreover, to underline the effect of montmorillonite in alginate gel beads, we have compared the isothermaladsorption curves between alginate montmorillonite and alginate beads.