Adsorption kinetics and mechanism of acid dye onto montmorillonite from aqueous solutions: Stopped-flow measurements

• Adsorption of acid fuchsin onto Na+montmorillonite from aqueous solution was investigated.
• Adsorption isotherm was studied.
• Kinetic was followed with stopped-flow spectrophotometer.
• Thermodynamic and activation parameters were determined.
• The adsorption of the dye is affected by the conditions controlling the clay/dye interaction.

The adsorption of acid dye, namely, acid fuchsin (AF), onto sodium montmorillonite (Na+-Mt) from aqueous solutions was investigated. The adsorption process was very fast and attained equilibrium within 1 h, which was an economically favorable requisite. The Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models were applied to describe the equilibrium isotherms and the isotherm constants were calculated. The experimental data fit well with Freundlich model rather than the Langmuir model. The equilibrium adsorption constant, Kc, was determined and used to calculate the enthalpy and entropy of the adsorption process. The adsorption kinetics was followed up using a stopped-flow spectrophotometer under pseudo-first-order conditions. The influence of initial dye concentrations, amount of sodium montmorillonite, and temperature on the rate of adsorption were studied. The activation energy of adsorption was calculated and indicated a chemical adsorption process. The enthalpy of adsorption confirmed an exothermic process. A proper mechanism for adsorption supported by X-ray and atomic absorption data was proposed.