Adsorption of aqueous alkylphenol ethoxylate surfactants by mesoporous carbon CMK-3.

Mesoporous carbon, CMK-3, was prepared using hexagonal SBA-15 mesoporous silica as the template and the adsorption of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPE) onto CMK-3 was investigated. The adsorption process was well described using pseudo-second-order kinetics. At initial NPE concentrations of 107 and 530 mg l(-1), the adsorption rate constants were found to be 5.6 x 10(-3) and 8.7 x 10(-4) g mg(-1) min(-1), indicating that a higher initial concentration or adsorption amount resulted in a lower adsorption rate. NPE adsorption onto CMK-3 fitted a Langmuir-Freundlich model and the maximum amounts of NPE absorbed at 15, 25, and 35 degrees C were 923, 720, and 463 mg g(-1), suggesting an elevated adsorption capacity of CMK-3 for NPE with decreased adsorption temperature. In addition, increasing adsorption temperature led to the change of the adsorption model from the Langmuir-Freundlich to the Langmuir model. N2 adsorption results showed that the adsorption of NPE led to a decrease in the mesopore volume of CMK-3. However, the pore width of NPE-loaded CMK-3 was found to be identical to that of CMK-3.