Tannin-based adsorbents from green tea for removal of monoaromatic hydrocarbons in water: Preliminary investigations

摘要

In this study, we report the adsorption of benzene and toluene from water using rarely reported tannin adsorbents. Tannin gel and tannin powder were synthesized by adding formaldehyde to green tea extract, while iron nanoparticles were synthesized by the addition of FeSO4bold/bold7H(2)O. The surface morphology of the synthesized adsorbents was determined using SEM and FTIR prior to application to contaminated water. The results show up to 88% removal of benzene and toluene in a batch system after 30min of reaction time, with a higher rate of removal of toluene compared to benzene. A low pH value of 2 had an adverse effect on the tannin gel, reducing the total adsorption of benzene to approx. 37.5%. On the other hand, iron nanoparticles were least affected by the pH with an adsorption of 62.9% for benzene and 83.3% for toluene.