Synthesis and Characterization of Functionalized Mesoporous Silica MCM-41 as Adsorbent for Copper Ions Removal

Copper ions are one of heavy metal that high in toxicity and can cause pollutant. Removing copper ions has become a major key mostly in chemical industry as heavy metals can bring many negative impacts to living organisms as well as pollute the environment. Due to that, many researches have been conducted to remove copper ions which include chemical precipitation, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, ultra filtration and adsorption. Adsorption is the most preferential technology mainly attributed to its ease of availability and economic efficiency. Study showed that amino functionalized mesoporous silica, MCM-41 has great potential in copper ions adsorption as it has high selectivity of heavy metal separation. Therefore, this research work is focuses on the synthesis of functionalized MCM-41 tertiary amino group via co-condensation method and the performance of the synthesized adsorbent on copper ion removal. The resulting adsorbent will be characterized using different analytical tools such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The adsorbent then was tested for removal of copper ions. Based on that, the results were analyzed by adsorption isotherm and kinetics model for adsorption study for the adsorbent on copper ion. The adsorption process on modified MCM 41 was well described by the Langmuir Model and Pseudo-Second-Order model. For percentage of copper ions removal,10% AEPTMS – MCM 41 have the highest percentage removal that is 57.4%.. In summary, 10% AEPTMS – MCM 41 was an excellent adsorbent in the field of copper ions removal.