RESUMEN
Cationic synthetic dyes are one of the hazards in aqueous solutions that can affect the health of humans and living organisms. In the current work, polyacrylamide (PAM)-g-gelatin hydrogel and modified PAM-g-gelatin hydrogel using activated carbon of Luffa cylindrica (ACL) and ACL/Mg-Fe LDH were applied to eliminate crystal violet (CV), a cationic dye, from water media. The hydrogels were synthesized using free radical polymerization approach, and the hydrogels were characterized using FTIR, XRD, TGA-DTG, BET, SEM, and EDX-Map. The surface area of ACL, ACL/Mg-Fe LDH, PAM-g-gelatin, PAM-g-gelatin/ACL, and PAM-g-gelatin/ACL/Mg-Fe LDH were 99.71, 141.99, 0.74, 1.47, and 1.65 m2/g, respectively, which shows that the presence of ACL and ACL/Mg-Fe LDH improved the area of the hydrogels. The maximum abatement of CV using PAM-g-gelatin (92.81%), PAM-g-gelatin/ACL (95.71%), and PAM-g-gelatin/ACL/Mg-Fe LDH (98.25%) was obtained at pH=9, temperature 25 °C, 10 mg/L CV, 60 min time, and adsorber dose of 2 g/L (for PAM-g-gelatin) and 1.5 g/L (other samples). The value of thermodynamic factors confirmed that the abatement process is exothermic and spontaneous. The kinetics data followed the pseudo-second kinetic (PSO) model. The Langmuir isotherm model had a more remarkable ability to describe the equilibrium data. The maximum adsorption capacity for PAM-g-gelatin, PAM-g-gelatin/ACL, and PAM-g-gelatin/ACL/Mg-Fe LDH was determined 35.45, 39.865, and 44.952 mg/g, respectively. Generally, the studied hydrogels can eliminate dyes from wastewater and be used as effective adsorbers.