Adsorption of rhodamine B from aqueous solution onto heat-activated sepiolite

The heat-activated sepiolite, which was prepared using sepiolite by thermal treatment at different temperatures, was used as an absorbent for the removal of rhodamine B (RhB) from aqueous solutions. The structure and morphology of the as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques, respectively. The adsorption capacity of RhB onto the heat-activated sepiolite has been examined with pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, initial dye concentration, and temperature. Kinetic studies showed that the equilibrium was attained within 40 min, and the kinetic data were well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Besides, the experimental data (R ²>0.999) fitted the Freundlich model better than the Langmuir model. The as-prepared sample showed higher adsorption capacity (8.33 mg/g) for the removal of RhB than that of sepiolite, which could be attributed to more adsorption sites caused by appropriate heat treatment. The adsorbent can be well regenerated by calcination at 400 °C for 2 h and regenerated sepiolite did not exhibited significant loss of adsorption activity after five recycles.