Characterization of an abundant illitic clay from the Safi region in Morocco and its exploitation in the treatment of industrial effluents loaded with synthetic dyes

The objective of this work is to valorize abundant illitic clay from Morocco in the treatment of industrial effluents likely to be loaded with synthetic dyes such as the textile, stationery, cosmetic, food, and also pharmaceutical industries. The penitential adsorbing of two dyes: methylene blue (BM) and malachite green (GM) was studied on this clay. Firstly, this clay was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and X-ray fluorescence analysis. And on the other hand, Effect of different parameters on adsorption kinetics has been studied, such as contact time, initial dye concentration, pH, salinity and temperature. Adsorption tests results showed that equilibrium was established after 30 min and the adsorption of the two dyes depends on the initial dye concentration and the pH. The results showed was the adsorption of the two dyes can be described by pseudo-second-order kinetics. The results indicate also that the process is a spontaneous endothermic physisorption characterized by disorder of the environment. This study shows that this raw, abundant and low-cost natural illitic clay can be valorized and exploited to treat effluents loaded with synthetic dyes.