Simultaneous removal of crystal violet and methyl green in water samples by functionalised SBA-15

In this paper, we have synthesised SBA-S(4,)as a mesoporous silica-based sorbent, via template method by functionalization of SBA-15 using the tetra-sulphide group. The prepared structure was applied to remove Crystal Violet (CV) and Methyl Green (MG) dyes with 100% efficiency. The obtained adsorbent, after and before the modification, was characterised by several techniques to explore textural properties, functional groups, and morphology. Design-Expert was applied to find the optimal values of adsorbent dosage, the solution pH, and the concentration of each dye as experimental variables. It was found that the isotherm model and kinetic rate order fitted Langmuir and pseudo-second-order, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of the studied sorbent was 67.6 and 39.4 mg g(-1)for CV and MG, respectively. The results also showed that SBA-S(4)had high efficiency for eliminating the studied analytes in tap water, well water, and river water as real matrix samples. Reusability and regeneration studies indicated that the studied sorbent can be applied more than 5 cycles with a negligible loss of efficiency.

Automated summary

In this study, a mesoporous silica-based sorbent SBA-S(4,) was synthesized and successfully used to remove Crystal Violet and Methyl Green dyes. The results showed that the sorbent had high efficiency in eliminating the target analytes and can be reused multiple times with negligible loss of efficiency.