Enhancing the Textile Dye Removal from Aqueous Solution Using Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles Prepared in Presence of Fulvic Acid

Abstract

A mixed oxide of cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) was prepared by coprecipitation method in absence and presence of fulvic acid at pH 6 (F6) and 8 (F8), respectively. The as-prepared nano-materials were used as adsorbents for a textile dye (Remazole-Red, RR dye) from aqueous solution. The adsorption process was in good agreement of pseudo-second order kinetic model and Freundlich isotherm. The factors affecting the dye adsorption were discussed. The preparation of CoFe2O4 via co-precipitation method was modified using fulvic acid and calcinations were performed at 300 °C and 500 °C to yield F8 and F6, respectively. The adsorbents exhibited maximum removal efficiency of Remazole-Red, which reached 99.5% under optimized conditions. Thus, the modified synthetic route of the adsorbents and calcinations conditions will be discussed in the current work to correlate with the fast adsorption kinetics, recycling and high adsorption capacity of the novel adsorbents, F8 and F6.