Adsorption isotherms of phenols from water onto macroreticular resins

The amounts of equilibrium adsorption of phenol and 4-chlorophenol from water on non-ionic macroreticular resins were measured in the temperature range 288-318 K. It was shown that the isotherm data could not be fit by any conventional two- or three-parameter equation including the Langmuir, Freundlich, BET, and Redlich-Peterson equations over the entire range of concentration (1-32 mol m(-3)). They were well fit by combined BET equation or its modified form with the Freundlich or Langmuir equation, depending on the types of solutes and the resins. Such different fitting results could be related to the solute-resin interactions owing to the relatively wide pore size distribution of the resins. The effect of temperature on adsorption equilibrium was also discussed.