Z Poorhasan - Faculty of Science, Yadegar-e-Imam Khomeini (RAH) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Z Ameri Barki - Faculty of Science, Yadegar-e-Imam Khomeini (RAH) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Montmorillonite has a high capacity to absorb hydrophobic materials but is not adequate to capture the hydrophobic compounds. So, it has to be modified with ionic compounds. In this paper, montmorillonite was modified by cationic surfactant cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a cationic surfactant. The modified nanoclay was characterized by various analytical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).To improve the adsorption capacity of nanoclay, the inorganic cations of nanoclay were transferred with cationic surfactants to be intercalated the nanolayers of montmorillonite. This modification was widely used to create a variety of environmental applications for the refinery wastewater. The simultaneous application of Ferric sulfate (FS) as an ionic flocculants with the modified nanoclay was investigated on dye removal. Important factors such as pH, contact time, dye concentration, adsorbent and flocculent amount were studied by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The results show in the best condition the 99.85% dye removal yield with 0.01 g (ratio 1:1) adsorbent and flocculent.

Montmorillonite, Modified Montmorillonite, Vat yellow SG dye, Ionic flocculent