Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles modified by methyl trioctyl ammonium chloride as an adsorbent for the removal of erythrosine from aqueous solutions

In this research work, the removal of erythrosine by magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles modified by methyl trioctyl ammonium chloride (Aliquat 336) was investigated. Fourier transform infrared and transmission electron microscopy were applied for surface characterization of modified iron oxide nanoparticles. In order to obtain the maximum removal efficiency, effects of pH, amount of adsorbent, electrolyte, stirring time, temperature, and interfering ions were investigated. It was found that the adsorption equilibrium was attained after 2 min of stirring time. Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models were applied to fit adsorption equilibrium data. The best-fitted data was obtained with the Langmuir model and the adsorbent capacity was 149.2 mg g(-1). Kinetic studies indicated that the adsorption process was described better by pseudo-second-order model. This method was successfully applied for the removal of erythrosine from water samples.