Hydrotalcite as sorbent for trinitrophenol: Sorption capacity and mechanism

The aim of this work was to evaluate the sorbent power of hydrotalcite compound [Mg3Al(OH)8]2CO3•xH2O (HT) and its calcined product Mg3AlO4(OH) (HT500) for 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) from water solution. The adsorption behaviour of TNP was investigated at diverse solid/solution ratios, pH and TNP concentration by batch equilibration technique. The L and H type adsorption isotherms obtained in those sorbents respectively indicated a chemisorption process which was irreversible and fitted the Langmuir equation model well. Sorption capacity and energy were found to be very high for HT500. The X-ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy techniques applied to TNP-HT and TNP-HT500 products indicate that anionic TNP is adsorbed by anion exchange in the interlayer of HT to 20% of the anion exchange capacity (AEC) and, by reconstruction of the layered structure on HT500, to 40% of the AEC. The results suggested the potential use of HT500 as a filter for TNP, being also easily recyclable.