Green synthesis of phillipsite from natural microcline for use as an adsorbent for Cu(II), Cd(II), Pb(II), and methylene blue dye from polluted water

Developing high-performance adsorbents from highly abundant natural materials to meet the increasing demand for low-cost, readily available, and sustainable adsorptive processes for industrial pollutant removal is a significant contemporary research subject. The present article investigated the synthesis of phillipsite via a hydrothermal process using placer sediment collected from W. Zarieb, Red Sea, as a precursor. The raw material was admixed with sodium hydroxide and heated at 650 °C for 2 h. After heating the mixture with distilled water and stirring it and then performing filtration and washing processes until the pH was less than 11, phillipsite was formed. The obtained product was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The removal percentages achieved with the adsorbent were 85% for Pb²⁺, 81% for Cu²⁺, 96% for Cd²⁺, and 79% for methylene blue dye. The mechanism of adsorption was described using some kinetic and isothermal models.