Multi-walled carbon nanotubes as sorbent for recovery of endocrine disrupting compound-bisphenol F from wastewater

In this study, the removal and recovery of bisphenol F (BPF) by multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were investigated. MWCNT has shown the great potential as a kind of effective adsorbents for endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs)-BPF in wastewater treatment. The results indicated that the removal percentages of BPF could reach up to 96.2% within 4 min under pH 4–10. BPF adsorption kinetics was found to be very fast and the equilibrium was attained within 4.0 min following the pseudo-second-order model with observed rate constants (k) 0.707–3.175 g mg−1 min−1 (at varied temperatures). The adsorption mechanisms were the non-electrostatic dispersion interaction, hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interaction between BPF and MWCNT and the overall rate process mainly governed by the external mass transfer. Most of the co-existing ions which were studied have negligible effect on the sorption BPF by MWCNT. Furthermore, MWCNT was of high stability in eight times removal–regeneration recycles. In summary, MWCNT is an excellent adsorbent which can be used for BPF removal in contaminated water treatment process.

• EDCs-BPF removal and recovery using MWCNT was studied for the first time.
• A rapid and simple method for separation and recovery of BPF was developed.
• The method exhibits higher removal ratio and anti-interference species ability.
• The method was satisfactorily employed to extract BPF in different water samples.
• The adsorption rate-controlling mechanism was revealed and elucidated in detail.