Clay Based Geopolymer Adsorbent and Its Application for Methylene Blue Dye Removal from Wastewater System

Abstract

The steep rise in human population and their exploitation of precious natural resources such as water has degraded the quality of ground and surface water over the years and is a matter of great concern. Identifying the causes of pollution and its practical and cost-efficient solutions is the need of the hour to protect such a life-dependant resource. Clay-based geopolymer adsorbents are a promising solution for mitigating wastewater pollutants. These adsorbents are synthesized from clay minerals and industrial by-products, which are abundant and easily available. They have been shown to have high efficiency in removing pollutants such as heavy metals, dyes, and organic compounds from aqueous solutions. This research is carried out to study metakaolin-based geopolymer powder as an adsorbent for the treatment of methylene blue dye from wastewater system. A variation in the alkali activator ratio from 2.00 to 2.50 and further variations in the raw material to alkali activator ratio in the range of 1.50 to 2.00 and conducting the batch adsorption test in order to get the best-performing powder adsorbent is the primary objective of this research. Various characterization techniques such as XRD, FESEM, EDS, FTIR, and XRF are employed in order to verify the composition of the raw materials used and to confirm the formation of the geopolymer adsorbent.