Abstract
In the current work, a new-designed adsorbent of chitosan-salicylaldehyde Schiff base/algae/montmorillonite (CS-SA/ALG/MTN) was prepared for the effective adsorption of anionic (remazol brilliant blue R, RBBR) and cationic (brilliant green, BG) dyes from aquatic media. The Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to inspect and statistically optimize the three major variables that affect RBBR and BG adsorption: A: CS-SA/ALG/MTN dosage (0.02-0.08 g), B: pH (4-9), and C: duration (5-55 min). The BBD model findings indicated that the ideal parameters for attaining the maximum removal of RBBR (54.3%) and BG (79.4%) were CS-SA/ALG/MTN dose (0.08 g), pH (4 for RBBR and 9 for BG), and duration (30 min). The equilibrium analysis showed that the Freundlich model matched the adsorption data of RBBR adequately, whereas the Langmuir and Freundlich models perfectly represented the adsorption of BG. The kinetic data demonstrated that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was consistent with the adsorption behavior of RBBR and BG. The maximal adsorption capabilities of CS-SA/ALG/MTN were 148.1 mg/g for RBBR and 440.3 mg/g for BG. The adsorption mechanism of RBBR and BG by CS-SA/ALG/MTN was inferred to be associated with electrostatic attraction, n-pi interaction, hydrogen bonding, and pi-pi stacking. The findings indicate that the new-designed adsorbent developed via this research could serve as a multi-functional adsorbent for the remediation of complicated industrial effluents.