Regeneration of thiol-functionalized mesostructured silica adsorbents of mercury

The regeneration of thiol-functionalized SBA-15 adsorbents of mercury is presented in this article. The influence of temperature and pH on the adsorption process was studied. The effect due to the presence of complexing agents in aqueous solution on the desorption step was also evaluated. Hg(II) maximum adsorption capacities at different temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 60 °C were obtained and it was found that temperature does not affect the adsorption process. Mercury adsorption capacity was also determined in the presence of HNO3 and HCl up to 3 M concentration. The comparison of the results showed that whereas hydrochloric acid exhibits an appreciable capacity to regenerate the thiol-functionalized SBA-15 adsorbent, the nitric acid results inefficient. The difference was attributed to the mercury complexing ability of chloride anion. Four complexing compounds, KBr, KSCN, (NH2)2CS, and HBr were tested for desorbing mercury in regeneration experiments. All agents were able to remove significant amounts of adsorbed mercury, being hydrobromic acid the complexing compound that yields the best results.