A surface-imprinted polymer for removing dibenzothiophene from gasoline

A surface-imprinted polymer for the adsorption of dibenzothiophene (DBT) was obtained from DBT (the template), titanium dioxide (the support), methacrylic acid (the functional monomer), ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (the cross-linker), 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile (the initiator) and toluene (the porogen). The material was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller model and Scanning electron microscopy. Batch adsorption experiments were performed to study the adsorption of the material in terms of adsorption kinetics, isotherms, and thermodynamic parameters. The adsorption follows pseudo-second-order kinetics, the Freundlich adsorption equation fits the experimental data well, and there is strong evidence for multiple layer adsorption. The negative values of the Gibbs free energy (Delta G(0)) range from -6.04 kJ mol(-1) to -7.69 kJ mol(-1) between 298 and 318 K, which reveals that the adsorption is endothermic. The material can selectively recognize DBT over similar compounds present in gasoline (such as benzothiophene and 4-methyldibenzothiphene).