Gholamreza Kiani - School of Engineering-Emerging Technologies, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
Mehdi Soltanzadeh - School of Engineering-Emerging Technologies, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
Iraj Ahadzadeh - Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

In this paper, Taguchi method was applied to determine the optimum conditions for Zn (II) removal from aqueous solution by halloysite nanotubes (HNTs). An orthogonal array experimental design (L۱۶ (۴۵) which is of five control factors including pH, t (contact time), m (adsorbent mass), T (temperature) and C۰ (initial concentration of Zn (II)) having four levels was employed. Adsorption capacity (mg/g) and removal percent (%) were investigated as the quality characteristics to be optimized. In order to determine the optimum levels of the control factors precisely, range analysis and analysis of variance were performed. For removal percent, the optimum condition was found to be pH=۶, T=۳۵°C, w=۰.۴ g, and C۰=۵۰ mg/L. Under these optimum conditions, adsorption capacity and removal percent can reach to ۱۳۲.۱۶ mg/g and ۹۹.۷۶%, respectively.

Adsorption, Halloysite Nanotubes, Heavy Metal Ions, Optimization, Taguchi Method