Kinetic, isotherm and thermodynamic studies of the adsorption of phenol and tyrosine onto apatitic tricalcium phosphate

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of apatitic tricalcium phosphate with a Ca/P ratio of 1.50 for the adsorption of phenol and tyrosine from aqueous solutions. The adsorbent was synthesized at room temperature using an aqueous double decomposition method and characterized through physicochemical methods. Batch adsorption studies were conducted as a function of contact time, initial adsorbate concentration, temperature, and pH. The adsorption kinetics of phenol and tyrosine were well fitted to the pseudo-second-order model. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 5.56 mg/g for phenol and 9.65 for tyrosine mg/g at 298 K. The adsorption of phenol and tyrosine was well explained using the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevick models. The Langmuir model is the most suitable, with a maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 7.32 mg/g for phenol and 11.43 mg/g for tyrosine at 298 K. The thermodynamic parameters indicate that the adsorption process is favorable, spontaneous, exothermic, and controlled by physisorption with electrostatic interactions between compounds containing the phenolic group and apatite. The results of this study have demonstrated the potential utility of apatitic tricalcium phosphate, which could be developed into a viable technology for the adsorption of compounds containing the phenolic group from aqueous solutions.