Sorption of water soluble dyes from aqueous solutions on zirconium phosphate

Abstract

Amorphous zirconium phosphate (ZP) an inorganic ion exchange material of the class of tetravalent metal acid (tma) salt has been synthesized by sol-gel method. The material has been characterized for elemental analysis (ICP-AES), thermal analysis (TGA, DSC), FT-IR and X-ray diffraction studies. Chemical resistivity of the material in various media has been assessed. The sorption behaviour of dyes methylene blue (MB), crystal violet (CV), methyl violet (MV) and janus green B (JGB) towards ZP has been studied at 313, 323 and 333 K and kinetic and thermodynamic parameters evaluated. Adsorption isotherms (Langmuir and Fruendlich), breakthrough capacity and elution behaviour of dyes have also been studied. Sorption affinity of dyes towards ZP is found to be MB > CV ≈ MV > JGB.