Elimination of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons through a copper-modified bimodal ‎mesoporous silica from aqueous media

In recent decades, water pollution has become a serious environmental problem as a consequence of ‎progressive industrialization and the development of civilization. Benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) compounds are ‎some of the most hazardous water contaminants, since they have toxic and carcinogenic properties. Even at very low ‎concentrations, they may adversely affect the biological functions of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. For these ‎reasons, strict limits have been imposed all over the world on their concentrations in water and wastewater, and the ‎removal of BTX has become necessary before water is released into the environment [1-3]. The most common sources ‎of BTX water contamination appear to be petroleum leakages from underground storage tanks, pipelines or tankers [4]. ‎Many conventional methods can be employed to remove BTX from water and wastewater, including adsorption, ‎aeration, biological oxidation and chemical oxidation. Of these, adsorption processes involving porous solids are the ‎most popular, and are widely utilized in engineering practice since they permit the recovery of these compounds [5]. In ‎this study, one type of copper-modified silica based mesoporous adsorbents (Cu-UVM-10) [6], has been synthesized ‎and applied in the adsorptive removal of BTX compounds as representative monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons over a ‎batch setup. The structural order and textural properties of the synthesized catalysts have been characterized by XRD, ‎N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, HRTEM, FTIR and FESEM techniques. The influence of process parameters (i.e., ‎pH, temperature and contact time) and their interactional effects on the adsorption of BTX compounds were analyzed ‎using the obtained adsorption experimental data. The maximum adsorption yield is about 97%, which obtained at pH ‎‎6.5, 25 °C and 20 minutes.‎

کلیدواژه ها:

Sorption of BTX ، Mesoporous silica ، UVM-10 ، Adsorption ، Water treatment