Adsorption of aniline on template-synthesized porous carbons

Abstract The aniline in aqueous solutions is harmful to both human health and the environment. A new synthetic, the templated porous carbon, was designed and studied in this study to adsorb the aniline from aqueous solutions. The templated porous carbon was synthesized by SBA-15 and natural zeolite and characterized by SEM/TEM /FTIR and N 2 sorption/desorption isotherm analysis. The results indicated that the adsorption of aniline followed pseudo-second-order kinetic model and was well fit using the Freundlich isotherm model. The adsorption capacity was influenced by the pore structure and pH. The adsorption–desorption cycles were also investigated in this study, and the results suggested the template-synthesized porous carbon would be a promising adsorbent for the removal of aniline from aqueous solution.