Sono-assisted adsorption of Cristal Violet dye onto Tunisian Smectite Clay: Characterization, kinetics and adsorption isotherms

Abstract The present work describes the removal of Crystal violet from aqueous solution by Sono-assisted adsorption on Raw Tunisian Smectite Clay (RSC). This material was purified by dispersion in water and extraction of the fraction with a particle size smaller than 2 µm. the resulting material was characterized by XRD, TEM, BET, surface area and pore volume measurements. Batch studies were carried out to investigate the effect of experimental factors such as contact time (0–60 min), pH (2.5–11), adsorbent dose (0.05–0.3 g/L), and initial dye concentration (12.5–100 mg/L) on the Sono-assisted adsorption of Crystal violet dye. Adsorption kinetics was well fitted by pseudo-second order kinetic model. Langmuir (R 2 = 0.988), Freundlich (R 2 = 0.968), Langmuir–Freundlich (R 2 = 0.997) and Toth (R 2 = 0.999) isotherms were fitted to describe the equilibrium of Crystal violet Sono-assisted adsorption process. The results suggested that Natural Tunisian Smectite Clay is suitable as a sorbent material for Sono-assisted adsorption of Crystal violet dye from aqueous solutions.