Removal of aniline from aqueous solution by PVC-CDAE ligand-exchanger

The adsorption of aniline from aqueous solutions onto cobalt(II)-poly(vinyl chloride)-carboxylated diaminoethane (PVC-CDAE) resin has been studied using a mini-column apparatus at 25 ± 0.1 °C. First of all, experimental data obtained from the breakthrough curves were tested by using the Scatchard plot analysis, to have a preliminary prediction about the types of interaction of the resin with aniline. Our aim was to determine the model which best describes the experimental data. The aspect of the Scatchard plot indicated that the aniline adsorption did not follow the Langmuir model and the presence of two types of binding sites for aniline on the resin. However, the dynamics of aniline uptake were represented by the Freundlich model reasonably well. The kinetics of aniline adsorption from aqueous solution on the cobalt(II)-PVC-CDAE have also been tested using continuous column runs and rate-controlling step of the process was determined. In this study, homogeneous diffusion model was adapted to a column system to describe the change in the aniline concentration at the column exit beginning from breakthrough point as a function of time. Kinetic studies revealed that the rate-controlling step of the aniline adsorption was predominately film diffusion controlled rather particle diffusion.