Adsorption of phenol on a novel adsorption material PEI/SiO2

In this paper, functional macromolecule polyethyleneimine (PEI) was grafted onto the surfaces of silica gel particles via the coupling effect of γ-chloropropyl trimethoxysilane (CP), and the novel adsorption material PEI/SiO2 with strong adsorption ability for phenol was prepared. The adsorption properties of PEI/SiO2 for phenol were researched by both static and dynamic methods. The experimental results show that PEI/SiO2 possesses very strong adsorption ability for phenol, and the saturated adsorption amount could reach to 160 mg g−1. The empirical Freundlich isotherm was found to describe well the equilibrium adsorption data. pH and grafting amount of PEI have great influence on the adsorption amount. Diluted sodium hydroxide solution is used as eluent, and the adsorbed phenol is eluted easily from PEI/SiO2.