Preparation of immobilized activated carbon-polyvinyl alcohol composite for the adsorptive removal of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

Polymer-based activated carbon-polyvinyl alcohol (AC-PVA) composite was successfully fabricated and immobilized on a glass plate where it is has not been reported elsewhere due to the PVA solubility in aqueous solution. The formulation was mixed with glutaraldehyde (GLA) as cross-linker to avoid PVA from dissolved in water, ammonium peroxodisulfate (APS) and silica (Si) as additives to improve the adhesiveness. The immobilized AP12 sample which containing 4 g AC, 32 mL PVA, 20 mL GLA, 0.56 g APS and 0.2 g Si is the optimum AC-PVA formulation with the high relative strange and adsorption of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The immobilized AP12 presents a BET surface area of 202 m2/g, a micropore volume of 20.8 cm2/g and an average pore size of 4.4 nm. The SEM and FTIR analyses indicated the interaction or cross-linking within the AC and PVA composite in the presence of the GLA explaining the high adhesiveness of immobilized AP12 and can be reused up to 4 times with excellent of 2,4-D removal. The adsorption kinetic and isotherm fitted with pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm models with maximum adsorption capacities, qmax, calculated from the isotherm was 55.9 mg/g.