Removal of salicylic acid as an emerging contaminant by a polar nano-dendritic adsorbent from aqueous media

A polar nano-dendritic adsorbent containing amine groups (SAPAMAA) was synthesized onto the nanoparticles of SiO2Al2O3 and its uptake of salicylic acid (SA) from the synthetic and real water was investigated. The synthesized nanomaterials were fully studied by nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum (1H NMR and 13C NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), zeta potential (ζ), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and elemental analysis. Various parameters such as the effect of the contact time, adsorbent dosage, initial SA concentrations, effect of solution’s temperature, interfering ions, the hydrophobicity of the nanoadsorbent and initial pH were assessed. The contact time to approach equilibrium for higher adsorption was 15 min (252.8 mg g−1). The isotherms could be fitted by Sips model (with the average relative error of 6.6) and the kinetic data could be characterized by pseudo-second-order rate equation (with the average relative error of 13.0), implying chemical adsorption as the ratelimiting step of uptake process which was supported by the experimental data from the effect of interfering ions, zeta potential, and altering of the adsorbent’s hydrophobicity. The uptake capacities decreased with temperature increasing, and showed that the uptake of SA was chemically exothermic in nature between 15 and 80 °C. In addition, the spent SAPAMAA could be regenerated by the removal of adsorbed SA with NaOH and ethanol to regain the original SAPAMAA, the regenerated SAPAMAA also exhibited the high adsorption capacity after 10 runs. Moreover, SAPAMAA could also be applied to uptake SA from a real water (Anzali lagoon water). We envisage that the prepared nano-dendritic with remarkable characteristics such as environmentally friendly, low-cost, easy preparation in large quantity, high mechanical and chemical stability will play a significant role in developing a new generation of emerging contaminants adsorbent.

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