Adsorption of yellow dye on calcined or uncalcined Al-MCM-41 mesoporous materials

Yellow dye (YD) adsorption was carried out on some mesoporous materials such as calcined and uncalcined Al-MCM-41. These two matrices were synthesized by variation of Si/Al molar ratio (20, 40 and 80) under thermal conditions. The obtained materials were characterized by various methods: XRD diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption at 77 K, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and energy dispersive spectroscopy by X-rays (EDX). Elimination of YD as a function of both pH and shaking, contacting time, and reaction temperature was studied. The uncalcined Al-MCM-41 had the highest adsorption capacities with adsorption rate of about 92%. Both the uncalcined and calcined materials which contain a very little amount of aluminum seem to have a high affinity toward YD molecules.