Synthesis and application of SBA-15 adsorbent for the removal of organic and inorganic substances

Abstract

This study investigates the adsorption of pollutants with different chemical structures; organic Naphtol Green B (NGB) and inorganic (Copper) on a nanocomposite with a hexagonal structure of the SBA-15 type. This research is divided into two main parts: the first carries out the synthesis of SBA-15 and its derivatives phases functionalized by 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (APTES) and calcined at 823K. The second part presents the results of the removal of Naphtol Green B dye and copper. Parameters such as initial pollutant concentrations, adsorbent mass, solution pH and system temperature were studied. High-resolution X-ray diffractogram (XRD) showed three distinct peaks characteristic of highly ordered mesoporous material. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm of SBA-15 at 77K° is type IV typical of mesoporous materials. In addition, zeta potential, thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were also used in the characterization. Pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order models was used to describe the adsorption kinetic results. The modeling of the experimental results of the pollutants followed the Sips isotherm and pseudo-second order models. The primary objective of this study is the potential of the synthesized nanomaterials in the removal of effluents regardless of their different chemical structure.