Evaluation of Phenol/Aniline (Single and Binary) Removal from Aqueous Solutions onto Hyper-cross-linked Polymeric Resin (Macronet MN200) and Granular Activated Carbon in Fixed-Bed Column

Abstract

This work was conducted to evaluate the sorption performance of hyper-cross-linked Macronet resin (MN200) compared to the granular activated carbon in order to remove phenol and aniline from aqueous solution in both single and binary solutions. Fixed-bed column experiments were used to obtain the breakthrough curves. The experimental data were fitted to the Thomas, Bed Depth Service Time and Yoon–Nelson models, well-established fixed-bed sorption models. The theoretical sorption capacities obtained by the Thomas model were in good agreement to the breakthrough capacities determined from the sorption data. The sorption capacity decreased in binary sorption for resin MN200, while activated carbon reported similar (aniline) or higher (phenol) sorption performance indicating a synergistic effect between both solutes on the activated carbon surface. A good prediction of the breakthrough curves in binary solution was obtained by using an approach that considers a simple model to describe a breakthrough curve (Thomas) and modified isotherm equilibrium. The resin MN200 fixed-bed columns were easily regenerated by using a methanol solution, reporting more above of 90% of recovery for both solutes, while about 50% was the recovery of activated carbon after single experiments. The regeneration after the binary sorption experiments reported a decrease in the solute recovery, effect that was especially evident for activated carbon.