EN
The liners in a sanitary landfill play a significant role in reducing the leachate migration and minimizing groundwater pollution. This research investigated a method for the removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions using natural clay admixed with quarry fines as a liner material in landfills. Batch experiments were carried out under different conditions such as pH, contact time, adsorbent dose, and metal concentration. The results showed that the metal ions uptake by clay (admixed with quarry fines) was rapid at from 3 to 15 minutes, after which adsorption of metal ions remains constant. The equilibrium was achieved practically in 15 min with a removal percentage of copper equal to 94.5%. The removal of copper increased when the pH increased from 2 to 5.6. At pH values higher than 5.6, a reduction in the removal efficiency was observed. The experimental results were mathematically modeled according to the two known adsorption models of Langmuir and Freundlich and the data better fit the Freundlich isotherm model. Thus, clay admixed with quarry fines used in this work, as adsorbent for Copper removal, revealed great retention capacity, making it very suitable for use as clay barriers in public landfills.