Pyridinium-functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica nanoparticles as a reusable adsorbent for phosphate removal from
Fang Ma1, Hongtao Du2, Ronghua Li1
1College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Taicheng Road 3#, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
Abstract:
In this work, pyridinium-functionalized silica nanoparticles adsorbent (PC/SiO2/Fe3O4) was synthesized for phosphate removal from aqueous solutions. The removal efficiency of phosphate on the PC/SiO2/Fe3O4 was carried out and investigated under various conditions such as pH, contact temperature and initial concentration. The results showed that the adsorption equilibrium could be reached within 10 min, which fitted a Langmuir isotherm model, with maximum adsorption capacity of 94.16 mg/g, and the kinetic data were fitted well by pseudo-second-order and intra-particle diffusion models. Phosphate loaded on the adsorbents could be easily desorbed with 0.2 mol/L of NaOH, and the adsorbents showed good reusability. The adsorption capacity was still around 50 mg/g after 10 times of reuse. All the results demonstrated that this pyridinium-functionalized mesoporous material could be used for the phosphate removal from aqueous solution and it was easy to collect due to its magnetic properties.
