Improved Study on the Performance of Polyacrylamide/Attapulgite Clay Composite Material Removing Copper (II) Ions from Aqueous Solution

A removal of Cu (II) ions from aqueous solutions onto PAM/ATP has been investigated using batch adsorption technique, including the effect of pH, contact time, initial metal ion concentration, adsorption thermodynamics and kinetics. PAM/ATP was characterized with Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The equilibrium data were analyzed using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and the best interpretation was given by Langmuir. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 212 mg/g after 60 min when pH =3. Regeneration experiments showed that the investigated PAM/ATP could be reused without significant adsorption losses even after five adsorption-desorption cycles.