Insight into the mechanism of adsorption of phenol and resorcinol on activated carbons with different oxidation degrees

In this work, activated carbons (ACs) with different oxidation degrees were fabricated and applied for phenol and resorcinol adsorption to systematically evaluate the adsorption mechanisms. The kinetics and isotherms at different temperatures were carried out to evaluate the adsorption rate and thermodynamics. Batch experiment results showed that the removal of phenol and resorcinol by ACs was affected by adsorbent content, contact time, pH, poly (acrylic acid), and temperature. The AC adsorption capacity towards phenol and resorcinol decreased with increasing AC oxidation degree and the adsorption capacity of ACs towards resorcinol was greater than phenol. The chemical adsorption was not mainly dominant in the adsorption process of phenols onto ACs. This work offers an indication of the future direction of synthesis of nanomaterials which could eliminate phenolic contaminants in wastewater.