Preparation of a novel polymeric adsorbent and its adsorption of phenol in aqueous solution

Abstract

Phenol is one of the most representative pollutants in industrial wastewater, and the designation and development of a novel and valuable polymer adsorbent is one kind of outstanding method to treat phenol aqueous solution. In this study, a new polymeric adsorbent P(MMA-St-NMA) was synthesized and characterized. The affection of solution pH, initial concentration, time, and temperature on adsorption ability of the synthesized polymer adsorbent was then investigated. Based on the analysis of Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry, the polymer adsorbent was successfully synthesized. Through the obtained data, the optimum adsorption was achieved when pH was 6, initial concentration 6,000 mg/L, contact time 5 h, and the higher temperature. The adsorption kinetics was found to follow the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The intra-particle diffusion analysis indicated that particle diffusion was involved in the adsorption process but it was not the only rate-limiting step. Adsorption isotherms of phenol were linearly correlated and found to be well represented by the Freundlich model. Thermodynamic parameters such as changes in the enthalpy (ΔH), free energy (ΔG), and entropy (ΔS) indicated that the adsorption phenol onto P(MMA-St-NMA) was an endothermic and spontaneous process.

Keywords:

• Phenol
• Polymer adsorbent
• Kinetics
• Thermodynamics
• Adsorption isotherm

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (20115121120005) and the Innovative Research Team of Sichuan Provincial Education Department.