The present work aimed to study the removal of copper ions using marl found in large deposits in R'ghiss mountain located in Oum-El-Bouaghi region (Algeria). The marl has been characterized by XRF, XRD and BET. The operational parameters such as adsorbent mass, agitation rate, and pH were studied. To better explain the experimental results, the adsorption isotherms and kinetics were modeled using the method of non-linear regression. The results showed that the adsorption of copper onto natural untreated marl obeyed the Langmuir model, maximum monolayer adsorptioncapacity (qm) of 130.70mg/g and the kinetic data followed a pseudo first order. Thermodynamic parameters such standard Gibbs free energy (ΔG°), standard enthalpy (ΔH°) and standard entropy (ΔS°), were also calculated. The value and the sign of the standard enthalpy of adsorption showed that the adsorption process was endothermic and followed a physisorption mechanism. These results suggested that marl (Oum El Bouaghi) could be used as an efficient adsorbent for removal of copper (II) ions from wastewaters.
