Adsorption studies for the removal of methyl tert-butyl ether on various commercially available GACs from an aqueous medium

This study highlights the potential of four commercially available granular-activated carbons (GACs) to remove Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) from an aqueous medium. Thermodynamics and kinetics parameters were elucidated. The FT-IR spectra showed decrease in peak intensity after the adsorption. The decline in the peak intensity revealed that the adsorption occurred on available active sites over the surface of the GACs. The adsorption on GACs was maximum in the pH range 7-8, with maximum adsorption capacity (47.82 mg/g, pH 8) observed with CGAC. The contact time studies showed optimum adsorption of MTBE on CGAC (67.05 mg/g) at 300 mg/L initial MTBE concentration. The applicability of the Freundlich model illustrates a multilayer adsorption process. The adsorption process is endothermic in nature. The kinetics studies showed that the adsorption follows the pseudo-second-order model on GACs and the intraparticle diffusion is the rate-controlling mechanism on CGAC.