Equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic studies of the uptake of copper by layered double hydroxide

This study explored the adsorption capacity of Mg/Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) for the removal of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions after synthesis and characterization. The effect of various operational parameters such as concentration, temperature and sorption time on the adsorption of Cu2+ was investigated using batch adsorption process experiments. It was found that layered double hydroxide (LDH) can be used as adsorbent for the removal of copper ions in aqueous solution containing low concentration of the metal salt. The average values of activation energy, isosteric heat of adsorption, entropy and enthalpy were 1.447, 12.9, 0.0137 and -4.8390 kJ/mol, respectively. This shows that the adsorption of the metal ion on the adsorbent follows a physical adsorption mechanism. The kinetic results conform to pseudo-second order model (R-2 = 0.9959) and second order kinetic model (R-2 = 0.9952) while the adsorption characteristics of the adsorbent followed both Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models.