Selective removal of ammonia from wastewater using Cu(II)-loaded Amberlite IR-120 resin and its catalytic application for removal of dyes

Cationic ligand exchange is one of the most predominant mechanisms for the removal of ammonia from wastewater through complex formation. The complexation technique occurs between the metal ions loaded on the surface of Amberlite IR-120 and ammonia which is present in the medium. Cu(II)-loaded Amberlite IR-120 (R-Cu(2+)) was prepared and described using FT-IR, TGA, SEM, and EDX techniques. The prepared R-Cu(2+) was applied for the elimination of ammonia from an aqueous solution. Different cations such as Co(2+) and Ni(2+) were loaded onto Amberlite IR-120 to study the impact of counter cation on the removal efficiency of ammonia. The ammonia removal percentage followed the order; R-Cu(2+) > R-Ni(2+) > R-Co(2+). The effects of contact time, pH, initial concentration, temperature, and coexisting ions on the removal of ammonia from wastewater by R-Cu(2+) were investigated. The equilibrium adsorbed amount of ammonia was found to be 200 mg/g at pH = 8.6 and 303 K within 60 min using 0.1 g R-Cu(2+) and an initial concentration of ammonia of 1060 mg/L. The removal of ammonia using R-Cu(2+) obeyed the non-linear plot of both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. According to the thermodynamic parameters, the adsorption of ammonia onto R-Cu(2+) was an endothermic and spontaneous process. The time-adsorption data followed the pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models. Moreover, the resulting product (R-Cu(II)-amine composite) from the adsorption process exhibited high catalytic activity and could be low-cost material for the elimination of dyes such as aniline blue (AB), methyl green (MG), and methyl violet 2B (MV2B) from wastewater. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-023-25677-3.