Adsorption of gold ion from a solution using montmorillonite/alginate composite

Quaternary ammonium salt was added to enhance the layer separation of the montmorillonite. This montmorillonite was used to prepare montmorillonite/alginate composite, which were evaluated as an adsorbent of gold ion. The results revealed that the optimum conditions for the maximum gold ion remove with montmorillonite/alginate composite: montmorillonite concentration of 6 wt%, contact time of 90 min, pH of 3, and adsorbent dose of 5 g. The equilibrium data were fitted Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and adsorption capacity was 1.49 mg/g. The adsorption kinetic followed the pseudo second order model. The gold desorption that occurred at pH 3 was 18.6%. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.