Competitive adsorption ability of aniline and pentachlorophenol with organoclay catalysts

In this study, incorporated hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA) cations to smectite via ion exchange and formed the modified smectite‐HDTMA, a kind of organoclay catalyst. Besides analyzing its physical properties, we also adopted it to conduct adsorption experiments on organic pollutants such as aniline and pentachlorophenol (PCP). In terms of the adsorption of organic pollutants, adsorption reaction reached the saturation point within 2 h and remained unchanged after reaching 8 h when smectite‐HDTMA with a pH value of 7 was used to bind aniline. Moreover, adsorption reaction reached the saturation point within 2 h and remained unchanged after reaching 24 h when smectite‐HDTMA with a pH value of 7 was used to bind PCP. This study also found that high adsorption efficiency of smectite‐HDTMA towards aniline could be achieved; there was a slow but steady increase in the adsorption capacity of smectite‐HDTMA when its equilibrium concentration reached 100 mg/L. Besides, batch adsorption experiments using two solvents showed that smectite‐HDTMA mainly bound aniline and PCP via distribution, meaning that the adsorption capacity of the smectite‐HDTMA remains the same no matter how many kinds of organic compounds are presented and that competitive adsorption does not occur.