Humic acid-immobilized polymer/bentonite composite as an adsorbent for the removal of copper(II) ions from aqueous solutions and electroplating industry wastewater

In this study, humic acid (HA) was immobilized onto amine-modified polyacrylamide/bentonite composite (Am-PAA-B) which was prepared by direct intercalation polymerization technique and the product (HA-Am-PAA-B) was used as an adsorbent for the removal of copper(II) ions from aqueous solutions. The surface characteristics of bentonite, Am-PAA-B and HA-Am-PAA-B were investigated. The adsorbent behaved like a cation exchanger and more than 99.0% Cu(II) ions’ removal was observed at the pH range 5.0–6.0. Kinetic and isotherm experiments showed that amount of Cu(II) ions adsorbed increases with increase of the initial concentration and temperature. The adsorption kinetic data were interpreted by pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order rate equations. The suitability of Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D-R) adsorption models to the equilibrium data was investigated. The Langmuir isotherm was found to provide the best theoretical correlation of the experimental equilibrium data. The thermodynamic and kinetic activation parameters were derived to predict the nature of adsorption process and discussed in detail. The isosteric heat of adsorption was constant even after increase in surface loading. The removal efficiency of HA-Am-PAA-B was tested using electroplating industry wastewater. The desorption of adsorbed Cu(II) ions was achieved by 0.1 M HCl and four adsorption/desorption cycles were performed without significant decrease in the adsorption capacity.