Use of statistical design of experiments to evaluate the sorption capacity of 7-amine-4-azaheptylsilica and 10-amine- 4-azadecylsilica for Cu(II), Pb(II), and Fe(III) adsorption.

7-Amine-4-azaheptylsilica (AAH Si) and 10-amine-4-azadecylsilica (AAD Si) were prepared and used for removal of Cu(II), Pb(II), and Fe(III) from aqueous solutions. Full 2(3) factorial designs with two pseudo-central points were carried out in order to achieve the best conditions of the batch adsorption procedure for metallic ion uptake by the adsorbents. To continue the optimizations, central composite surface design was also employed. These two independent statistical designs of experiments lead to the following conditions: m=30.0 mg of adsorbent; pH 6.0 for Cu(II) and Pb(II), pH 4.0 for Fe(III); t of contact 180 min to guarantee equilibration at higher adsorbate concentration. After optimization of the conditions, isotherms of the metallic ions adsorbed on the AAH Si and AAD Si adsorbents were obtained, which were fitted to nonlinear Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models.