Adsorption enhancement of laterally interacting phenol/aniline mixtures onto nonpolar adsorbents

Adsorption equilibria of phenol and aniline onto nonpolar macroreticular adsorbents were investigated in single and binary-solute aqueous systems at 293 K and 313 K. All adsorption isotherms can be well represented by the Langmuir equation. Larger uptake of aniline than phenol onto all the adsorbents probably results from the higher hydrophobicity of the former compound as well as the greater electronic density of the aromatic ring of aniline. It is interestingly observed that at a relatively high loading, the total uptake of phenol and aniline in a binary system is remarkably higher than those in a single system. Such uptake difference was elucidated by the cooperative effect arising from the lateral acid-base interaction between the loaded phenol and aniline molecules. Moreover, larger average pore size of the adsorbent is found to result in a greater cooperative coefficient, as observed from the equimolar phenol/aniline adsorption system.