Effective Removal of Lead (II) Ions from Aqueous Solution Using Montmorillonite/TiO2 Clay

Lead (Pb) is the third-most common toxic element in the heavy metal toxicity list. It is also one of the 10 chemicals that the WHO has set out as a cause for significant public health concerns [1]. The removal of Pb (II) has become a great concern globally due to these toxic effects of Pb (II) on living beings. In the past few years, various techniques have been used for lead removal [2]. Among these methods, adsorption has the advantages of being easy to perform and having a low cost and high efficiency. Thus, it has been used commonly in the heavy metal pollution treatment of water [3]. Clay as an adsorbent is widely used for the removal of heavy metals and has great applicability due to its being economical and having an environment-friendly nature, a high adsorption capacity, and a wide pH range.In this study, montmorillonite/TiO2 (Mont/TiO2) mineral was made nano-size and characterized by FT-IR, XRD and FE-SEM. Then nano Mont/TiO2 was used to adsorb Pb(II) in the aqueous solution. Figs.1a, b shows the effect of dosage of adsorbent and contact time on the removal of Pb(II) ion in the presence of Mont and Mont/TiO2, respectively. The obtained results show that the efficiency of these adsorbents is such that a small amount of adsorbent, even 20 mg can eliminate a significant amount of lead ion (II) (50 ppm) over a short period of time (5 minutes).