Are the thermodynamic parameters correctly estimated in liquid-phase adsorption phenomena?

Adsorption is a promising clean water technology process. Many materials both inorganic (such as zeolite, clays) and organic (such as residues from agricultural industry) have been used for wastewater decontamination. Among different pollutants, heavy metals and dyes are considered of great interest due to their toxicity. In order to develop an effective and accurate design model for the removal of pollutants from aqueous media, adsorption kinetics, thermodynamic and equilibrium data are essential basic requirements. This review article describes all the possible ways for estimating the thermodynamic parameters. Moreover, possible flaws are also highlighted. Meta data analysis was carried out and concluded that thermodynamic studies must be taken into consideration with caution since an enthalpy-entropy compensation was observed. (c) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.