Calcined ZnAl-LDH trapping performance in alginate beads for adsorption of Congo Red dye

In this study, we report the adsorption process of Congo Red (CR) dye by calcined Layered Double Hydroxide (ZAC) at 550°C. The urea hydrolysis method was applied to produce highly crystalline Zn2Al-LDH. Samples characterisation was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results show that the adsorption of CR on calcined ZnAl-LDH was accompanied by the reconstruction of the layered structure. The ZAC showed higher adsorption efficiency versus other adsorbent under investigation and optimum conditions of contact time, adsorbent dose, pH and temperature were found to be 50 min, 0.02 g, 7 and 318 K, respectively. Isotherm studies show that the Langmuir isotherm model was appropriate to describe the CR adsorption data compared with Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models, with a higher correlation coefficient (R2 > 0.99) and maximum adsorption capacity of 406.5 mg/g. The thermodynamic parameters revealed that the adsorption process was spontaneous, endothermic, and governed by chemisorption. To further facilitate the recovery process in CR adsorption, we test the feasibility of applying ZnAl-LDH and its calcined product at 550°C entrapped in alginate beads. Experimental results indicate that alginate-coated ZAC beads, which exhibited remarkable adsorption performance, were more stable and require less effort to pull and separate than the alginate/ZnAl-LDH composite beads.