Two agitation routes for the adsorption of Reactive Red 120 dye on NiFe LDH/AC nanosheets from wastewater and river water

The influence of the ultrasound-assisted and conventional adsorption processes as two commonly used agitation techniques on the adsorptive removal of Reactive Red 120 dye onto Nickel Iron Layered Double Hydroxides/Activated Carbon (NiFe LDH/AC) nanosheets from wastewater and river water were studied. The impact of key adsorption parameters such as solution pH (2−10), mass of the adsorbent (10–50 mg), solution volume (20–80 mL) and contact time (5–50 min) were explored by the ultrasound-assisted and conventional adsorption processes, under similar conditions. The results of the adsorption isotherms and kinetics demonstrated that the experimental data fitted well with the Redlich-Peterson and the pseudo-second order kinetic models, respectively, for both adsorption processes. Under optimum conditions, the maximum adsorption capacities were determined as 118.20 and 99.60 mg g⁻¹ for the ultrasound-assisted and conventional adsorption of RR 120 dye, respectively. Notably, the chemisorption adsorption mechanism was influenced by different interactions such as electrostatic attraction, n-π stacking, and H-bonding. Interestingly, physicochemical parameters, such as pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total dissolved solids (TDS), and turbidity after the application of NiFe LDH/AC for the adsorption of RR 120 dye in wastewater and river water samples were comparable to the drinking water parameters, thus exhibiting that the ultrasound-assisted adsorption was better suited for the removal of RR 120 dye.