Kinetics of adsorption of 2-chloroethylethylsulphide on Al2O3 nanoparticles with and without impregnants

Abstract: Alumina nanoparticles in the size range of 2–30nm and surface area 375m2/g were synthesized using aerogel route and then characterized using N2–BET, SEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR and TGA techniques. Thereafter, these were impregnated with reactive chemicals and tested for their potential by conducting studies on kinetics of adsorption of 2-chloroethylethylsulphide (2-CEES) under static conditions. Kinetics was studied using linear driving force and Fickian diffusion model. The kinetics parameters such as equilibration constant, equilibration capacity, diffusional exponent and adsorbate–adsorbent interaction constant were also determined. AP-Al2O3 with 10% impregnation of MoVPA (V3) and NaOH showed the maximum (574mg/g) and minimum (88mg/g) uptake of 2-CEES among impregnated systems respectively. All impregnated systems except NaOH impregnation showed the values of diffusional exponent to be <0.5, indicated the diffusion mechanism to be Fickian, whereas AP-Al2O3 with and without NaOH impregnation showed the diffusional mechanism to be anomalous. Hydrolysis and dehydrohalogenation reactions (identified using GC/MS technique) were found to be the route of degradation of 2-CEES. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]