Adsorption of tartrazine from an aqueous solution by octadecyltrimethylammonium bromide-modified bentonite: Kinetics and isotherm modeling

A modified bentonite was prepared at different surfactant (ODTMA) loadings through ion exchange. The obtained organobentonite adsorbent materials were then used for the removal of an anionic dye, tartrazine, from an aqueous solution. The bentonite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and Brunauer- Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The modification of organophilic bentonite by ODTMA increases the basal spacing d001 from 24.1 to 39.1 Å when the cation exchange capacity increases from 1 to 4. The increase in the spacing, due to the basic organic modifications, was confirmed by the results of thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and BET. The effects of contact time, initial concentration, and solution pH onto an adsorbed amount of tartrazine were investigated. To predict adsorption isotherm, the experimental data were analyzed using the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm equations. It was determined that the isotherm data were fitted to the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption process was also found to follow a pseudo-second-order kinetic model.