Synthesis, characterization and application of a novel sorbent, glucamine-modified MCM-41, for the removal/preconcentration of boron from waters

Abstract

A novel sorbent was prepared by the functionalization of an inorganic support material, MCM-41, with N-methylglucamine for the uptake of boron from aqueous solutions prior to its determination by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Characterization of the newly synthesized material was performed using BET, XRD, TEM, SEM and DRIFTS techniques, in addition to its C and N elemental content. Sorption behavior of the novel sorbent for boron was also investigated and found to obey Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm models. The maximum amount of B (as H 3 BO 3 ) that can be sorbed by the sorbent was calculated from the D-R isotherm and was found to be 0.8 mmol B g −1 of sorbent. The applicability of the new sorbent for the removal/preconcentration of boron from aqueous samples was examined by batch method. It was found that the sorbent can take up 85% of boron in 5 min whereas quantitative sorption is obtained in 30 min. Any pH greater than 6 can be used for sorption. Desorption from the sorbent was carried out using 1.0 M HNO 3 . The sorption efficiency of the new sorbent was also compared to that of Amberlite IRA 743, a commercial resin with N-methylglucamine functional groups. Within the experimental conditions employed, the new sorbent was found to have higher sorption efficiency than the commercial resin. For method validation, spike recovery tests were performed at various concentration levels in different water types and were found to be between 83-95 and 75-92% for ultra pure water and geothermal water, respectively.

Adsorption of crystal violet dye from aqueous solution using mesoporous materials synthesized at room temperature

“…Only one low-angle peak for d 100 plane corresponding to the mesophase is observed in all the samples at 2θ value of 1.4°, which is the characteristic of the long range hexagonal structure of MCM-41. This low value of 2θ is mainly due to the length of the carbon chain (C 19 ) used for synthesis of MCM-41 (Lin et al 1997;Kaftan et al 2005). There is no considerable change in the peak position and the intensity of the XRD peaks shows that the structure of sulfated MCM-41 is still mesoporous and similar to that of MCM-41.…”

Investigation of equilibrium and kinetic parameters of methylene blue adsorption onto MCM-41

“…Only one low-angle peak for d 100 plane corresponding to the mesophase is observed in all the samples at 2θ value of 1.43 o . This is mainly due to the length of the carbon chain used for synthesis (C 19 ), which is the characteristic of MCM-41 materials [13,19]. Since the materials are not crystalline at the atomic level, no reflections at higher angles are observed.…”

Boron adsorption mechanism on polyvinyl alcohol

“…There are various techniques for removing boron from aqueous solutions, and typical methods include coagulationsedimentation (del Mar de la Fuente Garcia-Soto and Camacho 2006; Remy et al 2005), a membrane separation process using reverse osmotic pressure (Qin et al 2005;Turek et al 2007), solvent extraction (Matsumoto et al 1997), evaporation to dryness under reduced pressure (Spicer and Strickland 1958) and adsorption removal using ion-exchange resin, inorganic adsorbent, and organic adsorbent (Yoshimura et al 1998;Ozturk and Kavak 2008;Kaftan et al 2005;Sabarudin et al 2005).…”