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Background & Aims of the Study: water pollution by synthetic organic dyes is mainly regarded as environmental and ecological critical issues worldwide. In this research, magnetite iron oxide/silica gel nanocomposite (termed as Fe₃O₄/SG) was synthesized chemically and then used as an effective adsorbent for removal of sulfur dyes from aqueous solution.

Materials and Methods: The various parameters such as pH, sorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, contact time and dye solution temperature were investigated in a batch system. The equilibrium data were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models.

Results: The experimental data fit well with pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R²≥0.998) and conformed better to Langmuir isotherm model (R²≥0.997). The maximum adsorption capacity for Fe₃O₄/SG obtained from the Langmuir model was 11.1mg/g. Evaluation of thermodynamic parameters proved that the adsorption process was normally feasible, spontaneous and exothermic.