Synthesis of mesoporous material SBA-3 for adsorption of dye congo red

Abstract

Mesoporous material SBA-3 was synthesized and used as an adsorbent for the removal of dye congo red from aqueous solutions. Adsorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and N₂ adsorption–desorption and depicted the surface area of 690 m²g^–1. Adsorptions conditions were optimized by analyzing the effect of contact time, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dose, pH, and temperature. Experimental data were contemplated for various kinetics and thermodynamics models at different concentrations and corroborated that adsorption process is second order at all studied concentrations. Langmuir model imparted high value of monolayer capacity of 344.8 mg g^–1 for SBA-3. Thermodynamic parameters insinuated that present adsorption process is feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic in nature.

Keywords:

• Adsorption
• Congo red
• SBA-3
• Kinetics
• Isotherm