Highly efficient removal of bulky tannic acid by millimeter‐sized nitrogen‐doped mesoporous carbon beads. Issue 7 (31st January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chong, Yanping; Liu, Ke; Liu, Yu; Wang, Jitong; Qiao, Wenming; Ling, Licheng; Long, Donghui; Bai, Zhishan
• Is Part Of: AIChE journal. Volume 63:Issue 7(2017)
• Page Start: 3016
• Page End: 3025
• Publication Date: 2017-01-31
• Subjects: adsorption -- wastewater treatment -- mesoporous carbon bead -- surface chemistry; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; Génie chimique -- Périodiques; 660.28
• DOI: 10.1002/aic.15601
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0001-1541

Abstract

Abstract : Millimeter‐sized nitrogen‐doped mesoporous carbon beads (NMCBs) with a controllable nitrogen content are synthesized for the first time via a suspension‐polymerization assisted hard templating method. In contrast to conventional activated carbons, NMCBs exhibit outstanding structural advantages, including macroscopic morphology, a developed mesoporous structure and enriched surface chemistry. When used as adsorbents for the removal of the bulky organic pollutant tannic acid, these NMCBs demonstrated fast adsorption kinetics and very high adsorption capacity. The adsorption capacity strongly depends on the nitrogen content doped into the carbon framework. At a nitrogen content of 4.1 wt %, the adsorption capacity reaches 318 mg g −1 . The molecular mechanics simulation and zeta potential measurements suggest that the enhanced adsorption by nitrogen doping may be due to the electrostatic attraction between the nitrogen functional groups and the phenol groups of tannic acid. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 3016–3025, 2017