An ethylenediamine-modified hypercrosslinked polystyrene resin: Synthesis, adsorption and separation properties

•The ethylenediamine-modified hypercrosslinked resin was synthesized.•The ethylenediamine-modified hypercrosslinked resins had different pore structure.•The ethylenediamine-modified hypercrosslinked resins owned different polarity.•The equilibrium and column breakthrough performance of the resin were determined.•The separation performance of the resin from the mixed solution was measured.

We developed an effective approach for increasing phenol uptakes on a hypercrosslinked polystyrene resin and separating phenol from methyl orange or Congo red from the mixed solution. The ethylenediamine-modified hypercrosslinked polystyrene resins were synthesized, the equilibrium and breakthrough performance of the resins were determined on a selected resin named HJ-D33. The phenol uptakes on HJ-D33 were remarkably larger than that on its precursor and the commercial adsorbents like XAD-4, D301. The breakthrough capacity of phenol on HJ-D33 was 50.37 mg/ml wet resin at an initial concentration of 800.8 mg/L and a flow rate of 8.0 BV/h and the used HJ-D33 could be completely regenerated by a mixed solvent containing 0.01 mol/L of sodium hydroxide and 50% of ethanol. Methyl orange (or Congo red) and phenol could be dynamically separated by HJ-D33 resin column as the effluent was in the range of 0–60 BV.