RESEARCH ARTICLE Adsorption and Desorption of Nickel(II) Ions from Aqueous Solution by a Lignocellulose/

A new and inexpensive lignocellulose/montmorillonite (LNC/MMT) nanocomposite was pre-pared by a chemical intercalation of LNC into MMT and was subsequently investigated as an adsorbent in batch systems for the adsorption-desorption of Ni(II) ions in an aqueous so-lution. The optimum conditions for the Ni(II) ion adsorption capacity of the LNC/MMT nano-composite were studied in detail by varying parameters such as the initial Ni(II) concentration, the solution pH value, the adsorption temperature and time. The results indi-cated that the maximum adsorption capacity of Ni(II) reached 94.86 mg/g at an initial Ni(II) concentration of 0.0032 mol/L, a solution pH of 6.8, an adsorption temperature of 70°C, and adsorption time of 40 min. The represented adsorption kinetics model exhibited good agree-ment between the experimental data and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The Langmuir isotherm equation best fit the experimental data. The structure of the LNC/MMT nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron mi-croscopy (TEM), whereas the adsorption mechanism was discussed in combination with the results obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ra