Adsorption of phenol and 1-naphthol onto XC-72 carbon

Abstract

XC-72 carbon (XC-72) was characterized by SEM, XPS, N2 adsorption-desorption, particle size distribution analysis and potentiometric acid-base titration. The adsorption of phenol and 1-naphthol on XC-72 was studied as a function of contact time, pH, adsorbent content and temperature. The kinetic adsorption data were described well by the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption isotherms of phenol were described well by Freundlich model, while the adsorption isotherms of 1-naphthol were fitted well by Langmuir model. The results demonstrated that XC-72 had much higher adsorption capacity for 1-naphthol than for phenol. The adsorption thermodynamic data were calculated from the temperature-dependent adsorption isotherms at T=293, 313 and 333 K, and the results indicated that the adsorption of phenol was an exothermic process, whereas the adsorption of 1-naphthol was an endothermic process. XC-72 is a suitable material for the preconcentration of phenol and 1-naphthol from large volumes of aqueous solutions.