Mg-Al–layered Double Hydroxide as Promising Sustainable Nanoadsorbent for Application in Water/Wastewater Treatment Processes; Diethyl Phthalate Removal

Since phthalate esters and their derivatives have the potential to disrupt proper endocrine function, these compounds are considered as one of the most important groups of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The presence of these compounds in various aquatic environments has caused main concerns about human and animal health and causes problems in the environment.

The treatment process was carried out in a glass reactor containing 200 mL polluted water at room temperature. The Mg-Al layered double hydroxides (Mg-Al-LDH) were successfully synthesized and were applied as adsorbents for the removal of Diethyl Phthalate (DEP) from polluted water. The kinetics and isotherm of the process were investigated to determine the exact mechanism of DEP removal from the water medium.

The Mg-Al-LDH was a surface area of 673 (m2 g-1), a total pore of 0.716 (cm3 g-1), and microspore volumes of 0.627 (cm3 g-1), and a pore diameter of 8.64 nm. The maximum DEP removal efficiency of 96.7% was obtained at the DEP concentration of 10 mg L-1, Mg-Al-LDH dosage of 0.50 g L-1, and the reaction time of 30 min. The second-order kinetic model well depicted the kinetics of DEP adsorption (R2 = 0. 99). The Langmuir isotherm model best described the data by predicting the maximum adsorption capacity (qm) of 95.6 mg g-1 and R2 of 0.99.

All the results demonstrate that the Mg-Al-LDH is an efficient, safe, and efficient adsorbent in water and wastewater treatment.