Improvement of montmorillonite adsorption capacity for lead ions by modifying with hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride: Characterization, modelling and optimization studies

Heavy metal pollutants, particularly Pb are considered as critical contaminants causing harmful health risks for a human. In this study, montmorillonite modified with hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride surfactant (N-HTAC) was applied as a new adsorbent for the Pb(+2) adsorption from aqueous solutions. The N-HTAC was characterized by the scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. The central composite design using R software was chosen for modelling the effect of operating parameters. Based on the findings obtained from the analysis of variance, reduced full second-order model with multiple R(2), 0.94, adjusted R(2), 0.93, and LoF, 0.96, was represented satisfactory adjustment with experimental data. The Solver “add-ins” was employed to gain the optimum conditions for the modelling. The optimum operating points giving the maximum Pb(+2) removal (99.99%), were found to be initial Pb(+2) concentration: 0.1 mg L(1−) adsorbent dosage: 4.33 g L(-1), HTAC dosage: 4.19 g L(-1), pH: 7.13, temperature: 28.06(ºC), and the reaction time: 103.4 min. The findings of the study showed that by enhancing and improving natural adsorbents, a significant amount of environmental pollutants can be eliminated. • In this study, a new modified adsorbent (N-HTAC) was used to remove lead ions. • The results of this study showed that the N-HTAC used has high efficiency (99.99%) in the removal of lead. • The results of this study and the data obtained can be used to supplement the information on the removal of contaminants with adsorbents.