Adsorption of Co(II) from Aqueous Medium on Natural and Acid Activated Kaolinite and Montmorillonite

Abstract Hazardous metal cations enter water through the natural geochemical route or from the industrial wastes. Their separation and removal can be achieved by adsorptive accumulation of the cations on a suitable adsorbent. In the present work, toxic Co(II) ions are removed from water by accumulating them on the surface of clay minerals. Clay adsorbents are obtained from kaolinite, montmorillonite, and their acid activated forms, and are characterized with the measurement of XRD patterns, specific surface area, and cation exchange capacity. The adsorption experiments are carried out in a batch process in environments of different pH, initial Co(II) concentration, amount of clay, interaction time, and temperature. Adsorption of Co(II) on the clays increases continuously from pH 1.0 to 8.0 after which adsorption could not be carried out due to the decreasing solubility of Co(II). Under appropriate conditions, the adsorption of Co(II) is very fast at low coverage approaching equilibrium within 240 min and the interactions are best described by second order kinetics. Langmuir monolayer capacity has been computed in the range of 11.2 to 29.7 mg/g and Co(II) accumulation has the order of acid‐activated montmorillonite>montmorillonite>acid activated kaolinite>kaolinite. Adsorption of Co(II) on kaolinite and acid‐activated kaolinite is endothermic driven by entropy increase but the same process follows exothermically on montmorillonite and acid‐activated montmorillonite supported by entropy decrease. In both cases, spontaneous adsorptive accumulation is ensured by favorable Gibbs energy decrease. It is found that acid activation enhances the adsorption capacity of kaolinite and montmorillonite.