Adsorption of phenol from aqueous solution onto zeolites Y modified by silylation

The present work consists in studying the adsorption of phenol onto zeolites Y modified by silylation, in order to increase their hydrophobic character. The operation was carried out by chemical liquid deposition with trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS). Study of the effect of certain parameters like initial concentration, pH and ionic strength were conducted. Experimental data were fitted by the models of Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Raduskevich calculated by non-linear regression. Results obtained show that the adsorption of phenol on samples is very fast and supported at acidic values of pH. We also found that phenol uptake increases with Si/Al ratio and modification by silylation improves the percentage of adsorption by approximately 30%.