Industrial wastewater contains many contaminating organic and inorganic materials, such as aromatic compounds and dyes. Many compounds have been classified as hazardous pollutants because of their potential toxicity both to human health and environment.

There are many methods for the removal of organic pollutants from aqueous solutions, such as adsorption, chemical precipitation, ion exchange, membrane processes, biological degradation, chemical oxidation and solvent extraction. Adsorption is the most popular method in which activated carbon or ion exchange resins are usually applied. Activated carbons have the advantage of high adsorption capacity for organic compounds. However, because of its relatively high cost, there have been attempts to utilize low cost, naturally occurring adsorbents, to remove contaminants from wastewater. Recently, the usage of natural mineral sorbents for wastewater treatment is increasing because of their abundance and low price.

The adsorption was carried out according to the following parameters: pH, initial concentration, contact time, temperature and mass. Several kinetic and equilibrium models were used to determine the parameters of the adsorption of benzoic acid and salicylic acid by the two organobentonites. Also, the thermodynamic parameters and the nature of the mechanism governing the adsorption of the two acidic pollutants were estimated.

Understanding the composition and structure of porous clay heterostructures (PCHs) is of great importance in clarifying the topological design and performance of PCHs in applications. PCHs are new materials, having many favorable characteristics, such as large surface area (400–900m²/g), unique combined micro-and mesopores, high adsorption capacities and high mass transfer rates.

In this study, methyl blue (MB) as a typical dye was used to evaluate the effect of different preparation of PCHs on the adsorption of this dye.