Adsorption of bisphenol-A from aqueous solution onto minerals and carbon adsorbents

The adsorption behaviors of bisphenol-A, which has been listed as one of endocrine disrupting chemicals, from aqueous solution onto four minerals including andesite, diatomaceous earth, titanium dioxide, and activated bleaching earth, and two activated carbons with coconut-based and coal-based virgins were examined in this work. Based on the adsorption results at the specified conditions, the adsorption capacities of activated carbons are significantly larger than those of mineral adsorbents, implying that the former is effective for removal of the highly hydrophobic adsorbate from the aqueous solution because of its high surface area and low surface polarity. The adsorption capacities of bisphenol-A onto these mineral adsorbents with different pore properties are almost similar in magnitude mainly due to the weakly electrostatic interaction between the mineral surface with negative charge and the target adsorbate with hydrophobic nature. Further, a simplified kinetic model, pseudo-second-order, was tested to investigate the adsorption behaviors of bisphenol-A onto the two common activated carbons at different solution conditions. It was found that the adsorption process could be well described with the pseudo-second-order model. The kinetic parameters of the model obtained in the present work are in line with the pore properties of the two adsorbents.