Bentonite-ionic liquid composites for Congo red removal from aqueous solutions

Abstract Clay-organic composites have attracted great interest due to their ability to remove various contaminants from wastewater. The surfactants are the most commonly used organic compounds for clay modification. However, cationic surfactants are toxic and can be environmentally hazardous. Ionic liquids are a new promising alternative to the cationic surfactants due to lesser toxicity and appropriate thermal stability. The research aim is to prepare an environmentally friendly new class of clay sorbents modified with ionic liquids for potential applications in wastewater treatment from the textile industry. Imidazolium-based ionic liquids with different lengths of alkyl chains were inter…