Fast and highly efficient removal of anionic organic dyes with a new Cu modified nanoclinoptilolite

Adsorption of anionic dyes onto most of zeolites with net negative charge may be restricted. In this article, a natural nanoclinoptilolite was modified with Cu and the obtained nanomaterial was used as an effective adsorbent for removal of methyl red as an anionic model azo dye up to 90% in 20 min.This new adsorbent was characterized utilizing X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Also, effects of methyl red concentration, mass of sorbent and pH on the removal percent were examined. Moreover, the adsorption mechanism was investigated by plotting the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. The results showed that the data can be fitted with both models. The most adsorption capacity obtained from Langmuir isotherm was about 200 mg/g. Moreover, the Cu modified nanoclinoptilolite was successfully employed for adsorption of another anionic dye, bromothymol blue. The results confirmed that this new adsorbent can be effectively applied for removing of anionic dyes from waste waters.