Adsorption of cadmium and copper onto natural clay: isotherm, kinetic and thermodynamic studies

Clay of the Middle Atlas Mountains region, Morocco, was used to investigate the removal of heavy metals ions (Cadmium and Copper) from aqueous solutions with respect to several experimental conditions including pH, contact time, initial solute concentrations, temperature and ionic strength. Kinetic study revealed that metal ions uptake was fast with 90% or more of the adsorption occurring within first 30 min of contact time. Adsorption rate increased with the increasing initial metal ions concentrations and the sorption rate was well fitted by the pseudo-second-order rate model. The data according to mass transfer and intraparticle diffusion models confirmed diffusion of solutes inside the clay particles as the rate-controlling step and more important for the adsorption rate than the external mass transfer.
The suitability of the adsorbent was tested by fitting the adsorption data with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Equilibrium and kinetic adsorption data showed that clay displays a high selectivity with an affinity order of Cd > Cu. Thermodynamic parameters including the Gibbs free energy (ΔG), enthalpy (ΔH), and entropy (ΔS) changes indicated that the present adsorption process was feasible and endothermic in the temperature range of 25–45 °C.