Study of Montmorillonite Clay for the Removal of Copper (II) by Adsorption: Full Factorial Design Approach and Cascade Forward Neural Network

An intensive study has been made of the removal efficiency of Cu(II) from industrial leachate by biosorption of montmorillonite. A 2(4) factorial design and cascade forward neural network (CFNN) were used to display the significant levels of the analyzed factors on the removal efficiency. The obtained model based on 2(4) factorial design was statistically tested using the well-known methods. The statistical analysis proves that the main effects of analyzed parameters were significant by an obtained linear model within a 95% confidence interval. The proposed CFNN model requires less experimental data and minimum calculations. Moreover, it is found to be cost-effective due to inherent advantages of its network structure. Optimization of the levels of the analyzed factors was achieved by minimizing adsorbent dosage and contact time, which were costly, and maximizing Cu(II) removal efficiency. The suggested optimum conditions are initial pH at 6, adsorbent dosage at 10 mg/L, and contact time at 10 min using raw montmorillonite with the Cu(II) removal of 80.7%. At the optimum values, removal efficiency was increased to 88.91% if the modified montmorillonite was used.