Adsorption characteristics of mesoporous silica SBA-15 synthesized from mine tailing

• Mesoporous silica SBA15 was prepared by hydrothermal method using mine tailings.
• SBA15 was tested as adsorbent to remove metal ions in aqueous solution.
• The functionalized SBA15 showed high metal ion affinity for Cu(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) adsorption.
• The results of adsorption were fitted to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics model.

Mesoporous silica SBA-15 was successfully synthesized using the silicate solution extracted from mine tailings. The synthesized SBA15 was functionalized with 3-mercaptopropyl-trimethoxysilane, which was characterized by nitrogen adsorption–desorption analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, element analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. The properties of the synthesized mesoporous materials were compared with those prepared from silica precursor tetraethyl-orthosilicate. The functionalized SBA-15 was tested as adsorbents to remove metal ions from aqueous solution. The highest adsorption capacities were found to be 33.25 mg/g of Cu(II), 20.98 mg/g of Cd(II) and 35.04 mg/g of Pb(II) for the functionalized SBA-15 synthesized from mine tailings. The results of adsorption of the functionalized adsorbents were successfully fitted to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetics model (R2 > 0.99).

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