Nanocrystalline Zinc–Manganese Ferrite Carbonate Sorbent: A High-Performance Material for Sustainable and Efficient Removal of Anthraquinone Dye from Wastewater

Threatening environmental resources such as water, air and soil, and thus indirectly threatening biodiversity, through rapid, uncontrolled and non-ecological industrial production systems must be prevented through appropriate purification methods. In this research, the sorption of Reactive blue 19 anthraquinone dye from aqueous solution was carried out in a batch system using nano zinc–manganese ferrite carbonate (ZnMn–Fe2O4–CO3) synthesized by the co-precipitation method. Various factors affecting the sorption activity of the material were examined, and the most suitable conditions were determined to be pH 2 and ZnMn–Fe2O4–CO3 concentration of 0.25 g/L, whereby an equilibrium sorption capacity of 1463.10 mg/g was achieved. The ZnMn–Fe2O4–CO3 removal efficiency was found to be 88.48% in effluent from a textile manufacturing industry. Utilizing FTIR, SEM, EDS, XRD, TGA and BET methods, the material’s morphological and structural characteristics were thoroughly investigated and reported. Regarding the kinetic and isotherm models that were analyzed, the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order (PSO) models provided the best fit to the aforementioned sorption system. Thermodynamic data confirmed the spontaneity of the sorption reaction and the exothermic nature of the process. An extensive study of ZnMn–Fe2O4–CO3 demonstrated its high efficiency in removing RB19 dye, as well as the safety and simplicity of the synthesis, the cost-effectiveness of the sorption process, and the possibility of regeneration and reuse over multiple cycles. These findings highlight the potential of ZnMn–Fe2O4–CO3 for advanced water and wastewater purification technologies targeting anthraquinone dyes.