Effects of the functional groups attached to aromatic organic compounds on their adsorption onto preloaded activated carbon

The adsorption of phenol, p-nitrophenol, aniline, and nitrobenzene onto a commercial granular activated carbon (GAC: F400) preloaded with tannic acid (TA), a model background contaminant, was investigated. Compared with virgin GAC, the adsorption capacities of the four selected aromatic organic compounds (AOCs) onto GACs preloaded with TA at three densities were affected significantly. Also, the relationship between the adsorption capacities of AOCs and the characteristics of GACs was further discussed and clarified in this manuscript. The differences in the functional groups attached to the AOCs did not affect the similar linear relationship between the micropore surface area and their capacities to AOCs. However, the adsorption capacities of AOCs on TA-loaded GAC were affected by the different functional groups on the four AOCs: 67.6% of the capacity of aniline for virgin F400 remained on F400c (a preloaded GAC), compared with 23.8, 25.9, and 36.5% of phenol, p-nitrophenol, and nitrobenzene, respectively. The diversity of adsorption behavior of the four AOCs with different substituents was the result of hybrid contributions, such as hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic effect and aromatic stacking.