Adsorption of single and mixed haloacetonitriles on silica-based porous materials: Mechanisms and effects of porous structures.

Adsorption mechanisms and the role of different porous and crystalline structures on the removal of five haloacetonitriles (HANs) over hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS), titanium substituted mesoporous silica (Ti-HMS), rod-shaped SBA-15 and microporous zeolite NaY were investigated. In addition, the effect of pH on adsorption mechanism and selective adsorption of five HANs individually and in an equimolar mixed solution were evaluated. The results indicated that the intraparticle diffusion rate constants of the mesoporous adsorbents were higher than that of the microporous NaY. In single solute, the order of adsorption preference (highest to lowest) was mono-HANs > di-HANs > tri-HAN. However, in mixed solute, the large molecular weight of the tri-HAN and di-HANs are more easily adsorbed than the smaller molecular weight mono-HANs. Except for SBA-15, the order of adsorption capacities in mixed HANs solute was not different compared to that observed for the single HAN solute, which might be caused by the higher accessibility to the active sites due to larger pore size. The ion-dipole electrostatic interaction was likely to be the main adsorption mechanism, and was favored at high pH values due to the high negative surface charge density of the adsorbent. The molecular structure of the HANs and hydrophilic/hydrophobic nature affected the adsorption capacities and their selective adsorption from mixed solutes.