Adsorption of Acenaphthene on Porous Organic Polymers

Abstract

Adsorption behavior of the three-ring polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) acenaphthene from aqueous solutions on the adsorber polymers Wofatit EP 61 and EP 63 (Chemie GmbH Bitterfeld, Germany) was examined. Using dimethylsulfoxide as a solubilizer, equilibrium, kinetic, and fixed-bed dynamic experiments could be carried out. Freundlich parameters for equilibrium data were obtained, exhibiting high capacities at low liquid concentrations: KF= 0.14 mg1−ns˙Ln/mgA and n= 0.5 for EP 61; and KF= 0.22 mg1−ns˙L/mgA and n= 0.39 for EP 63. By fitting the numerical solution of a mathematical model to experimental data from kinetic experiments in a differential bed adsorber operated at high circulation velocity, effective intraparticle diffusivity could be estimated to be Deff= 2.5s˙10−10 cm2/s. According to these data and parameters from empirical equations, breakthrough curves were predicted analytically and numerically and compared to experimental data. A good agreement with the numerical solution was observed. The presence of dimethylsulfoxide influenced neither equilibrium nor kinetic data.