Adsorption of phosphate by layered double hydroxides in aqueous solutions

Adsorption of phosphate by various calcined layered double hydroxides (LDHs) such as Mg–Al, Zn–Al, Ni–Al, Co–Al, Mg–Fe, Zn–Fe, Ni–Fe and Co–Fe was investigated. LDHs were found to have high anion exchange capacity that enhances their capability to remove anionic contaminants from aqueous system. The nature and content of di- and trivalent cations in LDH have strong influence on the adsorption process. Calcined Mg–Al LDH (CLDH) with Mg–Al molar ratio of 2.0 showed higher adsorption capacity compared to other calcined LDHs as it possessed higher Al3+ content. Results indicate that the adsorption isotherm could be fitted to a linearised form of Langmuir and Freundlich equations. The adsorption phenomenon has been well supported by XRD study. The adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic in nature and followed first order kinetics. Competitive anions were found to have detrimental effect on the percentage of adsorption.