Nitrate Ion Adsorption from Aqueous Solution by a Novel Local Green Montmorillonite Adsorbent

Nitrate is used as a chemical water quality indicator. Therefore, nitrate removal from contaminated water is considered as an important health and environment issue. The aim of this work was investigation of nitrate adsorption from aqueous solution by Local Green Montmorillonite (LGM) as a novel adsorbent.
This study was conducted in a laboratory batch reactor. The most important variables affecting adsorption process were investigated and adsorption kinetic and isotherms were determined. Spectrophotometer was used for nitrate measurement and adsorbent characteristics were determined by BET, SEM and FTIR examimations. Data analysis was performed by excel software.
The results showed the optimum pH=1.5 and nitrate adsorption increased by increasing contact time and adsorbent dosage. The adsorbent specific surface area of 13m2/g was obtained and FTIR test revealed the functional groups existing on adsorbent surface to have important role in nitrate adsorption. Experimental data was well fitted by pseudo second-order kinetic model. Langmuir isotherm model best represented the experimental data to describe adsorption process and the maximum nitrate adsorption capacity was 89 mg/g.
Overall, data showed that the Local Green Montmorillonite can efficiently remove nitrate from aqueous solution.