Removal of Mercury using Dibutyl-Disulfide Montmorillonite: Characterization of Adsorbent, Optimization, Isotherm, Kinetic and Real Samples Study

Dibutyl-Disulfide Montmorillonite (DD-MMT) was synthesized successfully and found to be an excellent adsorbent for Hg(II) removal. The fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), x-ray diffraction spectrum (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize properties of the absorbent. The effects of several parameters such as solution pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and the initial concentration on the Hg(II) adsorption onto the composite were investigated. DD-MMT had a high capacity for Hg(II) removal that removed Hg(II) (10-100 mg/L) more than 95 % with 2 g/L of adsorbent in only 10 min. The adsorption equilibrium data fitted well to Langmuir isotherm. The maximum adsorption capacity of Hg(II) ions was 312.5 mg/g that was bigger than most of previous methods. Adsorption kinetics of Hg (II) on DD-MMT followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In addition, the method has the advantages of environmental friendly, rapidity, simplicity, and low cost for Hg(II) removal.