Parabens
are widely used as preservatives in food, pharmaceutical,
and cosmetic products. These compounds are known for their estrogen
agonist activity. This research investigates the synthesis of micro-
and mesoporous silica from coal fly ash at different pH values (13,
11, 9, and 7) as well as its use as an adsorbent for the removal of
parabens. The materials were characterized, and X-ray fluorescence
(XRF) analysis revealed that the fly ash acid treatment reduced the
presence of aluminum, iron, and calcium oxides and also that silica
synthesized at lower pH values (7 and 9) showed a higher SiO2 content. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) analyses revealed microporous silica formation for silica synthesized
at pH 13 and mesoporous silica at pH 7, 9, and 11. Adsorption tests
were performed with materials, and FA-AT7 showed a higher adsorption
capacity. The effect of factors (A) adsorbent mass, (B) initial paraben
concentration, and (C) agitation rate on the adsorption process was
studied for the FA-AT7 adsorbent using a factorial experimental design.
Standardized Pareto charts revealed a negative effect of factor A,
positive effect of factor B, and negative interaction effects of factors
A–B for all studied parabens. Isotherms and multicomponent
kinetic studies were performed. A linear type-III isotherm was obtained,
and adsorption equilibrium was reached at approximately 10 min.