Molecularly imprinted polystyrene-divinylbenzene adsorbents for removal of bisphenol A

The effect of acrylonitrile co-polymerization and molecular imprinting on bisphenol A (BPA) affinity by the polystyrene-divinylbenzene adsorbents was studied. Adsorption equilibria were measured using batch uptake experiments and equilibrium data were analyzed by means of Langmuir isotherm and Scatchard approach. The calculated parameters were utilized for modeling of adsorption-microfiltration hybrid system. The highest BPA capacity, 27 mg/g, is achieved for the material synthesized with 10% BPA template concentration in relation to monomer. Acrylonitrile does not improve BPA affinity or adsorption capacities of sorbents. BPA sorption rate can be described assuming pore diffusion control and using a tortuosity factor of 3. The estimated equilibrium and mass transport parameters describe reasonably well the removal of BPA in the adsorption-microfiltration hybrid system. Model calculations show that 97% reduction in BPA concentration is attained with sufficiently high amount of the adsorbent.