Synthesis of Guar-Gum Montmorillonite Composite Hydrogel for Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

The increasing concerns of environmental pollution from spillage of untreated synthetic dyes stuff into water bodies demand some innovative, eco-friendly, and sustainable solution for effective dye removal. In this research work, a composite hydrogel of enhanced sustainability, cost-effectivenes, and environmental compatibility was prepared. For the purpose of characterizing the produced composite hydrogel, FTIR, XRD, TGA, SEM, and zeta potential were used. Researchers tested the hydrogel's adsorption capabilities under several conditions of temperature, pH, adsorbent dose, contact duration, and dye concentration. For MB, the maximum was 421 mg/g, for CV it was 351 mg/g, and for Sf it was 423 mg/g. Adsorption was shown to be of the multilayer type on a heterogeneous surface, according to the Freundlich model, as shown by the isotherm investigations. The results show that physisorption is the main process. A pseudo-second-order model for the adsorption is shown by the kinetic investigations. Interactions between dipoles, ions, and pi-pi bonds make up the bulk of physisorption interactions. According to swelling tests, there is a lot of water absorption, which means more surface area and more dye uptake. The zeta potential study verified that charges are negatively charged at pH 8 and higher, suggesting that electrostatic interaction may enhance the adsorption of dye molecules with positive charges. The TGA supported its thermal stability in the hydrogel, enabling it to be used for wastewater treatment under wide environmental conditions. On the basis of the desorption and reusability studies, it was found that the hydrogel could still show high adsorption efficiency after successive cycles, which made it promising for sustainable wastewater treatment processes. In this case, the GG-co-AA MMT composite hydrogel can be used in varied, sustainable, cost-effective ways of adsorbing cationic dyes from wastewater. The adsorption capability is high, with thermal stability and reusability toward practical application in environmental remediation. Blending MMT into the gel enhances the hydrogen bonding and ion exchange on the adsorption, making it effective toward many cationic dyes. This study has proven potential to use the developed hydrogel for large-scale wastewaters, giving an environmentally friendly solution to dye pollution in aquatic systems.