removal of steriod hormones by activated carbon adsorption—kinetic and thermodynamic studies删除甾激素通过活性炭adsorption-kinetic和热力学研究.pdf

Journal of Environmental Protection, 2012, 3, 469-475 469 /10.4236/jep.2012.36057 Published Online June 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jep) Removal of Steriod Hormones by Activated Carbon Adsorption—Kinetic and Thermodynamic Studies Augustine O. Ifelebuegu Department of Geography, Environment and Society, Coventry University, Coventry, UK. Email: A.Ifelebuegu@coventry.ac.uk Received March 19th, 2012; revised April 15th, 2012; accepted May 11th, 2012 ABSTRACT The mechanism, isotherms and kinetics of removal of two endocrine disrupting chemicals, 17β-estradiol (E2) and 17α- ethinyloestradiol (EE2) by activated carbon adsorption were investigated in an agitated non-flow batch adsorption stud- ies. Mathematical models were used to describe the adsorption phenomenon with the kinetic and thermodynamic pa- rameters evaluated using the adsorption equilibrium data at varying temperatures. Higher adsorption rates were achieved at acidic to neutral pH ranges, with the sorption kinetic data showing a good fit to the pseudo second order rate equation and the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model for both E2 and EE2. The Gibbs free energy were –16.68 kJ/mol and –17.34 kJ/mol for E2 and EE2 respectively. The values of enthalpy for both E2 (84.50 kJ/mol) and EE2 (90 kJ/mol) indicated a chemical nature of the sorption process. Both the isotherm and thermodynamic data obtained all supported the mechanism of adsorption of E2 and EE2 to be mainly chemisorptions supported by some physical attractions. Keywords: Adsorption; Isotherms; 17β-Estradiol; 17α-Ethinyloestradiol; Enthalpy 1. Introduction tigated [13-16]. Use of activated carbon is favoured by many as it has been used extensively for treat