Porous synthetic hectorite clay-alginate composite beads for effective adsorption of methylene blue dye from aqueous solution

The present study deals with the preparation and characterization of mesoporous synthetic hectorite (MSH) clay which further encapsulated with Na-alginate for the preparation of mesoporous synthetic hectorite-alginate beads (MSH-AB) where Ca2+ act as a cross-linking agent. The detail characterization of MSH and MSH-AB were carried out by various physicochemical techniques. The thermogravimetric analysis study showed better thermal stability results for MSH-AB. The textural properties results of MSH and MSH-AB showed the high surface area 468, 205m2/g, and the pore volume of 0.34, 0.29cm3/g respectively. The applicability of powder MSH and MSH-AB in wet (W) and dry (D) forms were assessed for the removal of cationic dye, methylene blue (MB) by optimizing various batch adsorption parameters. The Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity obtained for MSH-AB-W showed significant high adsorption efficacy (i.e., 785.45mgMB/g) compared to the MSH-AB-D (357.14mgMB/g) and powder MSH materials (196.00mgMB/g). The adsorption isotherm studies showed that the Langmuir isotherm model was best suitable for MSH, whereas the Freundlich model was utilised to describe the adsorption behavior of organized hydrogel composite beads. The pseudo-second-order kinetics model was observed best for MB sorption onto MSH, whereas pseudo-first order useful to describe the kinetic behavior of MSH-AB. The regeneration experimental results revealed that MSH-AB-W could be recycled more than six cycles with high MB removal efficiency. Furthermore, the adsorption property of the MSH-AB-W was examined for the binary mixture of MB with other dye solutions such as Methyl Red (MR), Methyl Orange (MO), Alizarine Yellow (AY), and Remazol Brilliant Blue (RBB) to evaluate the selective adsorption efficiency. The MSH composite beads were found potentially suitable as an efficient, selective and recyclable adsorbent for the removal of MB from the aqueous solutions. •Mild synthesis of porous hectorite (MSH) by aging the gel precursors•Immobilization of MSH into the alginate for MSH composite beads•Synthesized composite proves efficient and selective adsorbent for MB dye•Application composite beads for wastewater treatment.