Adsorption of methyl tert-butyl ether on perfluorooctyl alumina adsorbents - High concentration range

The performance of two types of perfluorooctyl alumina (PFOAL) adsorbents prepared using gamma-alumina (PFOAL(A)) and alumina-active-basic (R) (PFOAL(B)) is reported. The equilibrium adsorption behavior of the adsorbents was studied for adsorption of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in a wide range (5-1000 mg/L) of aqueous phase MTBE concentrations. The monolayer adsorption capacities were 3.3 and 3.5 mg MTBE/g adsorbent, and the maximum adsorption capacities were 7.1 and 6.3 mg MTBE/g adsorbent for PFOALA and PFOALB, respectively. The application of Freundlich, Langmuir, BET and BDDT (the general form of BET) isotherms were compared for the modeling of aqueous adsorption of MTBE on the surface of PFOAL adsorbents. It was shown that adsorption of MTBE on the surface of PFOAL is a type IV van der Waals adsorption, which is best modeled by the general form of the BET (BDDT) multilayer adsorption isotherm.