Highly Efficient and Low-Cost Clay-Based Adsorbent for Glyphosate Removal from Contaminated Water

Glyphosate removal from contaminated water by natural clay, natural zeolite, commercial kaolin, bentonite, and sepiolite was compared. Natural clay showed high removal efficiency next to purified kaolin. The adsorption data for natural clay better fitted the Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorbent dose was found to be the most important process parameter while the pH did not exhibit any significant effect. An optimization study allowed achieving the highest removal efficiency and sorption capacity. The correlation coefficient R-2 of the regression model indicated that the observed results fitted well with the model prediction.

Automated summary

This study compared the removal of glyphosate from contaminated water using natural clay, natural zeolite, commercial kaolin, bentonite, and sepiolite. It was found that natural clay showed high removal efficiency, and the adsorption data fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The adsorbent dose was identified as the most important process parameter.