Effects of Algerian Clays Properties on the Adsorption of Cd (II)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry and Environment, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences,University of Tlemcen, B.P 119 Tlemcen, Algeria

2 Department of chemistry, Faculty of Science and the technology, University of Saïda, Algeria

Abstract

In this work, Cd (II) adsorption from aqueous solutions was studied on three Algerian clays
:bentonite, kaolin and clay of djebal Debbagh; using batch process, these materials were
characterized by different methods infrared spectroscopy, x -ray fluorescence, measure of Cation
Exchange Capacity (CEC) and specific area, the Adsorption tests were carried out at room
temperature. The uptake of cadmium ions from aqueous solutions to the clays has been studied
depending on contact time, temperature, agitation speed and pH, which was regarded as a
principal factor in the analysis of the adsorption process. the contact time for the maximum
adsorption required is 240m. The kinetics was correlated well with the pseudo second-order
model. The results show that the uptake of Cd(II) increases with the pH increasing in the pH
range of 2.0–12.0. The increase of the temperature influences negatively the process of the
adsorption, what shows the phenomenon of the physisorption of cadmium ion on the materials
tested. The studies of the retention of cadmium ion showed that it is mainly influenced by the
physico-chemical properties of used clays. Results show that sorption of cadmium ion was
higher by bentonite clay than for others clays. In consequence, the tests allowed us to choose the
bentonite as the material, which presents a capacity raised for the adsorption.


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