A Novel Polyaniline Titanium Oxide Sawdust Composite Adsorbent for Polychlorinated Biphenyls

Abstract

Polyaniline /sawdust /titanium oxide (PANI/SD/TiO2) composite was chemically synthesised by insitu polymerization of aniline monomer in acidic medium containing sawdust and titanium oxide. The structure and morphological variations of PANI/SD/TiO2 composite were interrogated by means of spectroscopy (FTIR, UV-visible, thermal gravimetric (TG) analyzer, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Noticeable spectral and morphological changes were observed compared to pristine PANI thus, strongly suggesting chemical interaction between compounds present in the composite. Batch experiments were adopted in examining the adsorption kinetics and isotherm of selected polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners (PCB: 28, 52 and 101). Results indicate that PANI/SD/TiO2 can be used as a novel, effective and low-cost adsorbent material for lower Chlorinated PCB remediation (PCB 28). Adsorption equilibrium studies followed Freundlich for PCB 52 and Langmuir models for PCB 28 and 101. While the adsorption kinetics were best described by pseudo-second-order (PCB 28 and PCB 52) and intraparticle diffusion models (PCB 101).