Adsorption of bisphenol A from aqueous solution onto activated carbons with different modification treatments

Two commercial carbons (W20 and F20) had been selectively modified with nitric acid and thermal treatment under a flow of N(2) in present study to adsorb bisphenol A from aqueous solution. The results indicated that the experimental data were well described with pseudo-second-order kinetic model. W20 and its thermal modified sample (W20N) represented a better adsorption capacity, and the equilibrium adsorption amounts reached 382.12 and 432.34 mg/g, respectively. Further, effects of temperature, pH and ionic strength on bisphenol A adsorption onto W20 and W20N had been examined. It was found that the adsorbed amount of bisphenol A decreased with the increase of temperature from 288 to 318 K and changed little with the increase of pH from 5.0 to 9.0. At pH 11.0, the two activated carbons represented the weakest adsorption capacity. The adsorption capacities of bisphenol A onto W20 and W20N first decreased and then increased with the increasing of ionic strength.