Nonlinear isotherm and kinetics of adsorption of copper from aqueous solutions on bentonite

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Bentonite is one of the most significant of clay minerals that has been studied extensively due to its potential applications in removal of various environmental pollutants. This ability is related to its high ionic exchange capacity and high specific surface area. Copper is one of the important elements of non-ferrous metals found in industrial waste waters. In the present work, the removal of copper from aqueous solutions with Iranian bentonite (from Birjand area, southeastern Iran) used without any chemical pretreatment, was studied. The experimental results were fitted by adsorption isotherms equations with two or three parameters, which include Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R), Redlich-Peterson, Khan, and Toth models. The best correlation coefficient (r²) is 0.9879 observed for Langmuir model, maximum adsorption capacity of bentonite was 55.71 mg/g. The first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic equations were used to describe the kinetics of adsorption. The experimental data were well fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetics.