Characterization, adsorption isotherm, and kinetic of mesoporous silica microspheres for dyeing wastewater

Abstract

A simple process for the preparation of mesoporous silica microsphere (MSM) as adsorbent was synthesized via sol–gel method between tetraethyl orthosilicate and polyethylene oxide-polypropylene oxide-polyethylene oxide (F127). The influencing factors of MSM on methyl orange simulated dyeing wastewater were investigated in detail. Five adsorption isotherm models, kinetics, thermodynamics, and mechanism were studied. Under the optimum conditions, the adsorption rate was up to 86.44% (only at 21 min). The adsorption process of methyl orange by MSM was indicated as a non-spontaneous monolayer chemical adsorption process, which obeyed the pseudosecondorder kinetic model. The above showed that the MSM as-prepared in this paper was a simple, efficient and promising adsorbent for wastewater treatment, which provided a theoretical basis and technical support for the dyeing wastewater treatment.