This study used red mud modified with chitosan (RM/CS) as a novel adsorbent to remove Ni(II) ions from an aqueous solution. The adsorbent was characterized by the techniques of the BET method, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. According to the findings, the surface area of RM/CS is nearly doubled compared to CS, from 68.6 to 105.7 m2.g-1. The Ni(II) batch adsorption of RM/CS was performed as a function of pH value, contact time, and volume of adsorbent. Three isotherm adsorption models (Langmuir, Freundlich, and Sips) and three kinetic models (the pseudo-first-order, the pseudo-second-order, and the intra-diffusion models) were fitted with the experimental data to calculate the maximum adsorption capacity and to estimate the uptake in nature. The Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity for Nickel (II) is 31.66 mg.g-1 at a pH of 6.0, with an adsorption time of 180 min and a temperature of 323 K. The Ni(II) adsorption on RM/CS is the exothermic process and is controlled by the intra-diffusion model.
Keywords: Adsorption; Intra-diffusion model; Low-cost adsorbent; Mechanism.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.