Abstract:
This research aims to study the adsorption of urea in aqueous solution using hierarchical porous carbon monolith as adsorbents. Initially, the adsorbent synthesized from resorcinol and formaldehyde in the rod form, which contained interconnected macroporous. This research, preparation of carbon gel without using any templates and ultrasonic wave but the interconnected macroporous texture depends on the catalyst concentration. Carbon gels were activated with three methods (carbonization, physical activation and chemical activation) in order to improve the surface area, porosity and functional group within the macroporous structure for increasing urea adsorption capacity. The equilibrium adsorption, carbon monolith prepared by chemical activation is able to absorb highest amount of urea because of micro-mesoporous and functional groups. Urea adsorption of carbon monolith prepared by carbonization was well fitted to Langmuir model but physical activation and chemical activation were well fitted to both Langmuir and Freundlich model. The maximum adsorption capacities of carbon monolith prepared by carbonization, physical activation and chemical activation were 3.14, 66.23 and 212.77 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption kinetics study, the flow solution through a column packed carbon monolith was used at 5 ml/min. All of these carbon monoliths, reaching equilibrium point at 120 minutes, Adsorption kinetic of carbon monolith prepared by carbonization was followed the pseudo-first-order kinetic model but carbon monolith prepared by physical and chemical activation were followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Surface functional group from activation affected on adsorption and the increasing of flow rate in the system causes the adsorption to reach equilibrium faster, but do not affect the efficiency of absorption.