Adsorption of Triarylmethane Dye on Ca-Montmorillonite: Equilibrium,Kinetics, and Thermodynamics

The equilibrium, kinetics, and thermodynamics of adsorption of triarylmethane dye, crystalline violet, from aqueous solutions on Ca-montmorillonite have been studied. The regularities of the influence of the physicochemical parameters (suspension pH, clay and dye concentrations, temperature, and contact time) on the specific adsorption value of the dye have been found. It has been shown that Ca-montmorillonite is capable of removing the dye from aqueous solutions in a wide range of concentrations with an efficiency of up to 99.8%. The adsorption of crystalline violet obeys the Langmuir model (the correlation coefficient is 0.999), which corresponds to monolayer adsorption on a homogeneous surface. The kinetics of dye adsorption is described by a pseudo-second-order equation, which is characteristic of chemisorption. The thermodynamic parameters of adsorption, ΔH = 40.42 kJ/mol, ΔS = 139.6 J/mol, and ΔG =–4.68 kJ/mol (323 K), have been determined and lead to the conclusion that the dye adsorption is a spontaneous endothermic process.