Abstract

Comparable Study of 4-chlorophenol Removal from Petrochemical Wastewater Using Mesoporous and Microporous Carbons: Equilibrium and Kinetics Investigations

Sadegh Hassania S*, Madannejadb S, Tasharrofic S, Samieed L and Rashidia AM

In this study, an ordered mesoporous carbon structure with excellent adsorption properties towards chlorophenol compounds was synthesized using a hard template. The physico-chemical properties of the synthesized samples were studied using Small Angle X-ray Diffraction (SAXRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and nitrogen adsorption–desorption analysis. The capability of adsorption of 4-chlorophenol on mesoporous carbon has been investigated by varying the reaction time, initial concentration of 4-chlorophenol, adsorbents loading and the pH of the solution; and the results compared with commercial activated carbon as a microporous carbon. Freundlich, Langmuir, Tempkin and dubinin-radushkevich adsorption isotherms were used to model the equilibrium adsorption data for 4-chlorophenol compound. The kinetic analysis showed that the adsorption process was fitted with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The equilibrium data were investigated by the main adsorption isotherm models on the mesoporous and microporous carbons as adsorbents, which revealed that the Freundlich model was better to describe the 4-chlorophenol adsorption than other models. Also, the obtained results indicated that the adsorption capacity and equilibrium time for mesoporous carbon were better than microporous carbon, 90 mg/g after 25 minute compare to 60 mg/g after 60 minute, respectively.