Simultaneous removal of copper, nickel and zinc ions from aqueous phase by using mould

In the present work, an inexpensive and ecofriendly mould is prepared from bentonite clay and Samne Ghat (the Ganga river bank) soil which removes heavy metals from aqueous phase. Functional groups such as -OH, Si-O, Al-Al-OH, Si-O-Si, and Si-O-Al present on the surface of mould helped in adsorbing metal ions. The mould was thermally stable and negatively charged due to charge deficiency. The mould had broken edges in the bentonite clay layered structure. The Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model best fitted in the experimental results, which demonstrated monolayer coverage of the adsorbent surface by chemisorption mediated adsorption. The genetic algorithm-powered by Fritz-Schlunder isotherm provided a high regression coefficient value (> 0.99), indicating its great efficacy. The dimensionless numbers interpreted that adsorption dynamics was transfer controlled for copper, nickel and zinc ions.