Adsorption of Phenol and Dichlorophenols from Aqueous Solutions by Porous Clay Heterostructure (PCH)

Abstract

Abstract. Experiments have been conducted to examine the adsorp-tion of phenol and dichlorophenols (2,5 DCP and 3,4 DCP) from water by a Porous Clay Heterostructure (PCH). Experiments were carried out for the analysis of adsorption equilibrium capacities using a batch equilibrium technique. The Freundlich adsorption model was best to describe adsorption equilibrium data for dichorophenols (r2 = 0.994 for 3,4 DCP and r2 = 0.993 for 2,5 DCP). In the case of the adsorption of phenol, the isotherm model of Langmuir was best to describe the experimental data (r2 = 0.9839) at high equilibrium con-centrations (0-500 ppm), while at low equilibrium concentrations (0-20 ppm) the Freundlich model was best to describe the data (r2 = 0.9831). This deviation implies that the adsorption sites are heteroge-neous. The adsorption capacity showed by the PCH for both phenol and DCPs from water (48.7 mg/g for 3,4-DCP, 45.5 mg/g for 2,5-DCP and 14.5 mg/g for phenol), suggests that the PCH have both,