Optimization of mesoporous carbons for efficient adsorption of berberine hydrochloride from aqueous solutions.
Sixteen mesoporous carbon adsorbents were synthesized by varying the ratio of soft to hard templates in order to optimize the pore textural properties of these adsorbents. The mesoporous carbon adsorbents have a high BET specific surface area (1590.3-2193.5 m(2)/g), large pore volume (1.72-2.56 cm(3)/g), and uniform pore size distribution with a median pore diameter ranging from 3.51 nm to 4.52 nm. It was observed that pore textural properties of the carbon adsorbents critically depend on the molar ratio of carbon sources to templates, and the hard template plays a more important role than the soft template in manipulating the pore textures. Adsorption isotherms of berberine hydrochloride at 303 K were measured to evaluate the adsorption efficacy of these adsorbents. The adsorption of berberine hydrochloride from aqueous solutions on the sixteen mesoporous carbon adsorbents synthesized in this work is very efficient, and the adsorption equilibrium capacities on all samples are more than double the adsorption capacities of berberine hydrochloride of the benchmark adsorbents (polymer resins and spherical activated carbons) at similar conditions. It was observed from the adsorption experiments that the equilibrium adsorption amounts of berberine hydrochloride are strongly correlated with the BET specific surface area and pore volume of the adsorbents. The adsorbent with the highest BET of 2193.5 m(2)/g displayed the largest adsorption capacity of 574 mg/g at an equilibrium concentration of 0.10mg/mL of berberine hydrochloride in an aqueous solution.
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; Chemical Engineering Department, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA; Zhejiang Provincial Key Lab for Chem & Bio Processing Technology of Farm Produces, School of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, 310023 Zhejiang, China.
Yin
Y
Li
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
Jie
J
Fu
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; Chemical Engineering Department, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA. Electronic address: sdeng@nmsu.edu.
Shuguang
S
Deng
Key Laboratory of Biomass Chemical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China. Electronic address: luxiuyang@zju.edu.cn.
Xiuyang
X
Lu
D000327:Adsorption; D028141:Berberidaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D001599:Berberine / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
D028321:Plant Preparations; D014867:Water; D001599:Berberine; D002244:Carbon
Adsorption; Berberine hydrochloride; Mesoporous carbon; Pore texture optimization