Comparison of Phenol Adsorption Property and Mechanism onto Different Moroccan Clays

This study focuses on the removal of phenol from aqueous media using Agouraï clay (Fes-Meknes-Morocco region) and Geulmima clay (Draa Tafilalet region). The characterization of the clay by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption (BET), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (DTA/GTA) indicates that it is mainly composed of quartz, kaolinite, and illite. The results showed that raw Clay Agourai (RCA) and raw Clay Geulmima (RCG) adsorbed phenol very quickly and reached equilibrium after 30 min. Thermodynamic parameters reveal the physical nature of the adsorption, the spontaneity, and the sequence of the process. However, the structure and structural characterization of the solid before and after phenol adsorption indicated that the mechanism of the reaction was electrostatic and that hydrogen bonding played an important role in RCG, while kinetic modeling showed the pseudo-second-order model dynamics. The physics-statistics modeling was employed for describing the isotherm adsorption for both systems. It was found that the monolayer model with two different energy sites best describes adsorption irrespective of the system. The model indicates that the receptor density of each clay direct influences the adsorption capacity, demonstrating that the composition of the clay is the main source of the difference. Thermodynamic simulations have shown that the adsorption of phenol is spontaneous and endothermic, irrespective of the system. In addition, thermodynamic simulations show that the RCG could be adsorbed even further since the equilibrium was not achieved for any thermodynamic variable. The strength of this study lies in the determination of the adsorption mechanism of phenol on clay materials and the optimum values of temperature and pH.