Mesoporous silica (MCM-41): Synthesis/modification, characterization and removal of selected organic micro-pollutants from water

In the removal of organic micro-pollutants from water, in addition to microporous there are mesoporous adsorbents that are increasingly gaining in importance. Mesoporous silica-based materials like MCM-41 have a high specific surface area and a large pore volume, properties that provide a high adsorption capacity towards pollutants. However, these materials have low hydrothermal stability which represents the main disadvantage in their wider usage in water treatments. Through the optimization of synthesis parameters and various post-synthetic modifications, better material characteristics may be achieved. Usually applied techniques for the material characterization are X-ray diffraction, N2-BET method, SEM, TEM and FTIR. The removal efficiency of water pollutants is determined by the MCM-41 structure, but also by the chemical structure of pollutants and in general depends on the pH and ionic strength of the treated water solutions.