Abstract
The kinetics of isothermal adsorption of phenol from an aqueous solution onto the zeolite-type silicalite was investigated. Zeolite-type silicalite was synthesized and its basic physico-chemical properties were determined. Isothermal adsorption kinetics curves of phenol on zeolite-type silicalite were measured at temperature range from 283 to 313 K. By applying Friedman’s differential isoconversional method it was found that the adsorption of phenol on silicalite has one rate determining step. By using the ‘model-fitting’ method it was established that the kinetic of adsorption can be described with theoretical kinetic model of the two-dimensional phase-boundary controlled reaction (model R2). The kinetic parameters, activation energy (
Introduction
Phenol is considered as one of the most common pollutant in the wastewater because of its presence in the majority of industrial processing and refining plants (Busca et al., 2008). Phenol is harmful even at low concentrations due to its toxicity and carcinogenic properties (Akbal and Onar, 2003). For that reasons, the US Environmental Protection Agency regulations demand lowering phenol content in the wastewater to less than 1 mg l−1 (Banat et al., 2000). Various methods are used for phenol removal from wastewaters, such as biodegradation (El-Naas et al., 2010; Kurzbaum et al., 2010; Stehlickova et al., 2009), photocatalytic degradation (Ahmed et al., 2010; Deshpande and Madras, 2010; Mu et al., 2010), chemical coagulation (Perdigon-Melon et al., 2010), chemical oxidation (Bansal et al., 2010; Zazo et al., 2009), solvent extraction (Messikh et al., 2007; Vatai et al., 2009), membrane separation (Bodalo et al., 2009; Ng et al., 2010), adsorption with porous inorganic materials (Lin et al., 2009; Liu et al., 2010; Senturk et al., 2009; Sprynskyy et al., 2009; Su et al., 2011) and synthetic polymeric materials (An et al., 2009; Zeng et al., 2009, 2010).
Adsorption is one of the most frequently used methods for phenol removal due to its simplicity in handling and relatively low exploitation price. The most widely used adsorbents are activated carbon (Dabrowski et al., 2005) alumino-silicates such as clays (Ahmaruzzaman, 2008), surfactant-modified zeolites and mesoporous aluminosilicates (Bowman, 2003; Shu et al., 1997).
In spite of the huge practical importance, there are relatively low numbers of articles considering kinetics of phenol adsorption on synthetic zeolites. Adsorption isotherm for phenol from water solution onto zeolite-type silicalite 1 and 2 is shown in the work of Narita et al. (1985). The authors found that adsorption isotherm can be modelled with the Freundlich’s type isotherm and that the maximal adsorption capacity of phenol is dependent on both temperature and pH (Narita et al., 1985). Adsorption of benzene and phenol onto zeolite-type silicalites, HAlZSM-5 and NaAlZSM-5, was mathematically simulated by Klemm et al. (1998). The differences in the adsorption behaviour between benzene and phenol are attributed to the difference in Coulomb interactions between them and zeolite. Roostaei and Tezel (2004) investigated kinetic of liquid-phase phenol adsorption on different adsorbents: activated alumina (basic and acidic base), silica gel, activated carbon, zeolite Y, zeolite ZSM-5 and Filtrasorb-400. Their results showed that phenol is not adsorbed on activated alumina and silica gel, whereas kinetic of phenol adsorption on the other used adsorbents can be best described with Lagergren equation.
For the design and projecting adsorption plant for wastewater purification from phenol, the knowledge of kinetics of phenol adsorption on particular adsorbent is of crucial importance. In this regard, the adsorption of phenol from aqueous solutions on zeolite-type silicalite, which included evaluation of degree of complexity, kinetics model and the values of kinetics parameters of phenol adsorption, was thoroughly investigated in this work.
Experimental
Materials and methods
Phenol p.a. was purchased from Lachner, Czech R., tetra-propylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH), 40% solution in water, was purchased from Fluka, Germany. SiO2 was synthesized according to the procedure described by Salvestrini et al. (2016). Deionized water was used in all the experiments.
Synthesis and characterization of zeolite-type silicalite
Zeolite-type silicalite was synthesized from a reaction mixture, with the molar content (TPA)2O × 13.3SiO2 × 184H2O. Reaction mixture was prepared as follows. The measured weight of 21 g of fine powder of SiO2 was suspended in 66 g water. To this suspension was added 25.06 g of 40% solution of TPAOH. The reaction mixture was placed in a tetrafluoroethylene-lined pressure vessel and heated at 200°C and autogenous pressure and kept for 24 h. The solid reaction product was recovered by filtration, washed with water and dried at 110°C. Dried sample of silicalite was calcined in air at about 600°C for 1 h. Table 1 presents basic physico-chemical properties of the zeolite.
Basic physico-chemical properties of synthesized zeolite-type silicalite.
BET: brunauer–emmett–teller; SEM: scanning electron microscopy; XRD: X-Ray diffraction.
Kinetics of phenol adsorption on silicalite
Investigation of kinetics of phenol adsorption on zeolite-type silicalite was carried out by batch method. An accurately measured weight of zeolite (
Concentration of phenol in water solution after adsorption was determined by the ASTM method (International standard, ASTM D1783-01, 2012). The VIS spectra of water solution of phenol were recorded on UV-VIS spectrophotometer Shimadzu UV mini 1240, Japan. The absorbance of phenol solution was measured at 510 nm.
Degree of adsorption of phenol
The degree of adsorption of phenol was calculated from equation
Model-fitting method
Bearing in mind that the adsorption of phenol on zeolite is a process which is carried out at adsorbent–solution interface, the kinetic model of phenol adsorption was determined by the ‘model-fitting’ method (Brown et al., 1980; Vyazovkin and Wight, 1999). In brief, the method consists of the following. The experimentally determined conversion curve αexp =
The criterion for comparing was the sum of squares of the deviation from the models’ normalized curves. As a kinetics model, the model for which the sum of squares of the deviation from the experimental curve gives a minimal value is chosen. A set of the reaction models is used to determine the model which best describes the kinetic of phenol adsorption on zeolite, where
Differential isoconversion method
The Friedman’s (1964) differential isoconversion method is based on the isoconversional principle. In accordance with the isoconversional principle, the rate of reaction (
Fitting of experimental data
The kinetics data for the isoconversional method (kinetic model R2, Arrhenius and Eyring equations) are fitted with a linear regression method. The linear correlation coefficient was used to minimize deviation of experimental data from the used equations. The parameters and the coefficients of correlations were calculated by using commercial software Origin Lab Pro 8.
Results and discussion
The isothermal dependence of specific adsorption capacity of the silicalite for phenol on time (i.e. kinetic curves) is shown in Figure 1.

Dependence of the isothermal specific adsorption capacity of silicalite on time for phenol adsorption at 283 K (
), 293 K (
), 298 K (
), 303 K (
) and 313 K (
).
From Figure 1, it can be seen that the isothermal dependences of specific adsorption capacity of silicalite versus time at all of the investigated temperatures are similar by shape. At the beginning of the adsorption process, the specific adsorption capacity increases linearly with time. After that the increase with time slowed and becomes convex by shape. At the end of the adsorption process, the value of specific adsorption capacity of silicalite becomes independent of time-plateau region. With an increase in temperature, the slope of the linear part of the kinetic curve increases as well as the maximum specific adsorption capacity
In order to examine rate-determining step of adsorption (mass transfer, phase boundary and chemical reaction), several kinetics models are used to test the experimental data.
In the work of Roostaei and Tezel (2004), it was established that the adsorption kinetics of phenol on zeolite-type Y and ZSM-5 can be described with the model of first-order chemical reaction.
When the adsorption kinetics of phenol can be described with the model of first-order chemical reaction, then the dependence of −ln(1−α) on time gives a straight line. Thus, herein obtained isothermal dependences of −ln(1−α) on time for different temperatures are shown in Figure 2.

Dependence of −ln(1−α) on time at 283 K (
), 293 K (
), 298 K (
), 303 K (
) and 313 K (
).
From the results shown in Figure 2, it is obvious that the dependence of −ln(1−α) versus time is considerably deviating from linearity through the whole range of α. Therefore, the adsorption kinetics of phenol on silicalite is not possible to be described with the model of first-order chemical reaction.
When the adsorption kinetics of phenol can be described with the model of second-order chemical reaction, then the dependence of (1−α)−1−1 on time gives a straight line. The obtained isothermal dependences, (1−α)−1−1=

Dependence of (1−α)−1−1 on time at 283 K (
), 293 K (■), 298 K (
), 303 K (
) and 313 K (
).
Based on the results shown in Figure 3, similarly to the ones in Figure 2, it is obvious that the dependence of (1−α)−1−1 versus time is considerably deviating from linearity through the whole range of α and the adsorption kinetics is not possible to be described with the model of second-order chemical reaction.
In the case when the rate-determining step of phenol adsorption is the intraparticle diffusion of phenol, the dependence α2 =

Dependence of α2 on time at 283 K (
), 293 K (
), 298 K (
), 303 K (
) and 313 K (
).
From the results presented in Figure 4, one can recognize that the plots of α2 versus time considerably deviate from the linearity through the whole range of α. The established deviation from the linearity indicates that the kinetics of phenol adsorption cannot be described with the interparticle diffusion model.
By applying the differential isoconversion method (Vyazovkin and Lesnikovich, 1990), the shape of the dependence

Dependences of ln(

Dependence of
The results shown in Figure 6 reveal that the value of the activation energy does not change with the degree of phenol adsorption. Consequently, phenol adsorption on silicalite has only one well-defined rate-determining step with

Plot of α versus tR at 283 K (
), 293 K (■), 298 K (
), 303 K (
) and 313 K (
).
As can be seen from Figure 7, all the experimentally normalized conversion adsorption curves are identical in shape, which implies on same kinetics model independent of temperature. By a comparative analysis of the experimentally normalized conversion adsorption curves with the shapes of the normalized conversion adsorption curves for different theoretical models, one can conclude that those experimentally kinetics data best fitted with the kinetic model for phase-boundary controlled reaction, contracting area (R2). In accordance with that, one can conclude that the rate-determining step of the phenol adsorption is the rate of movement of adsorbent–solution interface. In the case when the kinetics of the phenol adsorption can be described with the R2 model, the dependence
Figure 8 shows the isothermal dependence of

The dependences of [1 −(1 − α)1/2] versus time at 283 K (
), 293 K (■), 298 K (
), 303 K (
) and 313 K (
).
From Figure 8, it can be clearly seen that those dependencies are straight lines which confirm the validity of kinetic model chosen for the adsorption of phenol on zeolite-type silicalite. The values of kinetic model for the investigated temperatures are given in Table 2.
The rate of model constants and kinetic parameters.
The increase in the values of models’ adsorption rate constant with temperature is in accordance with the Arrhenius equation, which enables to calculate models’ kinetic parameters,
Based on the established kinetic model of phenol adsorption on silicalite, it is possible to assume kinetics model for pollutant adsorption on zeolites. The basic assumptions of this model are zeolite contains
Then, the degree of adsorption of phenol onto silicalite is given by the equation
That is
In equation (6) replacing the
Since the adsorption of phenol on zeolite is a thermally activated process and has one well-defined kinetics rate-determining stage, it is possible to calculate values of thermodynamic parameters, the standard enthalpy (Δ
The values for the enthalpy and entropy of activation for the process can be determined from the kinetic data obtained from ln(

Dependences of ln(kM/T) on inverse temperature (1/
Dependence is a straight line with slope (
The values of the standard free Gibbs free energy of adsorption (
The values of the thermodynamic parameters (
Values of thermodynamic parameters for adsorption of phenol.
Thermodynamic parameters
Conclusion
Silicalite selectively adsorbs phenol from water solutions. The adsorption of phenol onto silicalite is a spontaneous, exothermal, thermally activated process. The rate of adsorbed phenol and its maximal quantity increases with the increase in temperature. The adsorption of phenol was carried out by the model ‘layer by layer’. The rate of phenol adsorption is kinetically limited with the rate of adsorption layer growth. The kinetics of phenol adsorption can be described with the theoretical kinetics model of two-dimensional boundary phase (R2). The activation energy for phenol adsorption is independent of the degree of phenol adsorption. A novel model for the kinetics of pollutant adsorption from their water solutions onto zeolites was suggested which is successfully applied to thoroughly explain the investigated adsorption of phenol onto silicalite.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: The presented investigations were supported by The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, through the Project 172015.
