Adsorption of Chromate Ions by Layered Double Hydroxide-Bentonite Nanocomposite for Groundwater Remediation.

Herein, magnesium/aluminum-layered double hydroxide (MgAl-LDH) and bentonite (BT) nanocomposites (LDH-BT) were prepared by co-precipitation (CP), exfoliation-reassembly (ER), and simple solid-phase hybridization (SP). The prepared LDH-BT nanocomposites were preliminarily characterized by using powder X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and zeta-potentiometry. The chromate adsorption efficacies of the pristine materials (LDH and bentonite) and the as-prepared nanocomposites were investigated. Among the composites, the LDH-BT_SP was found to exhibit the highest chromate removal efficiency of 65.7%. The effect of varying the LDH amount in the LDH-BT composite was further investigated, and a positive relationship between the LDH ratio and chromate removal efficiency was identified. The chromate adsorption by the LDH-BT_SP was performed under various concentrations (isotherm) and contact times (kinetic). The results of the isotherm experiments were well fitted with the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm model and demonstrate multilayer chromate adsorption by the heterogeneous LDH-BT_SP, with a homogenous distribution of LDH nanoparticles. The mobility of the as-prepared LDH-BT_SP was investigated on a silica sand-filled column to demonstrate that the mobility of the bentonite is dramatically decreased after hybridization with LDH. Furthermore, when the LDH-BT_SP was injected into a box container filled with silica sand to simulate subsurface soil conditions, the chromate removal efficacy was around 43% in 170 min. Thus, it was confirmed that the LDH-BT prepared by solid-phase hybridization is a practical clay-based nanocomposite for in situ soil and groundwater remediation.

Porous Clay Heterostructure with Alginate Encapsulation for Toluene Removal.

A volatile organic compound adsorbent based on a porous clay heterostructure (PCH) with alginate biopolymer was successfully prepared. From N2 adsorption-desorption analysis, the specific surface area, pore volume, and pore size of bentonite were dramatically increased after introducing the porous structure. Following complexation with alginate (Alg-PCH), the pore volume and pore size were not significantly affected by pore structure. The thermal stability of Alg-PCH shows enhanced thermal stability compared to alginate and alginate beads. The morphology layered structure of Alg-PCH was carried out by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), suggesting the disorder and re-order of the c-axis layer stacking by porous structure and complexation with alginate, respectively, which was well-matched with X-ray diffraction results. To optimize the preparation of Alg-PCH, various reaction conditions (alginate, CaCl2 concentration, bead size, and weight ratio between alginate and PCH) were utilized. According to the toluene adsorption-desorption experiments, the preparation conditions for Alg-PCH were selected as a 2 mm extrusion tip, 0.5% of alginate, and 2% of CaCl2 solution with a 1:50 alginate:PCH weight ratio. Additionally, it shows 61.63 mg/g adsorption capacity with around 49% desorption efficacy under atmospheric temperature and pressure.