Issue 2, 2017

Sorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoate on polyacrylonitrile fiber-derived activated carbon fibers: in comparison with activated carbon

Abstract

Polyacrylonitrile fiber (PANF)-derived activated carbon fibers (PACFs) were successfully prepared using a one step carbonation–activation, and were used for the sorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA). High specific surface areas (SSAs) of 1782 m2 g−1 and micro/mesoporous structures of the PACFs were obtained by optimizing the preparation conditions of the PANF-based pre-oxidized fibers (PANOFs)/KOH ratio of 1 : 2 and an activation temperature of 800 °C. The as-prepared PACFs exhibited flexibility and endless forms, and sorption capacities of 1.52 mmol g−1 for PFOS and 0.73 mmol g−1 for PFOA, much higher than the commercially available coal-based powder activated carbon (PAC) and granular activated carbon (GAC), which was also indicated by the site energy distributions. The sorption system followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and a Freundlich isotherm model. The intra-particle diffusion and Boy’s film-diffusion models were also used to verify that intra-particle diffusion is the main rate-controlling step. It was assumed that the multilayer sorption most probably occurs through electrostatic attraction and hydrophobic interaction, and some micelles and hemi-micelles form on the ACF surfaces. The PACFs show good reusability over five sorption–desorption cycle studies.

Graphical abstract: Sorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoate on polyacrylonitrile fiber-derived activated carbon fibers: in comparison with activated carbon

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Oct 2016
Accepted
08 Dec 2016
First published
04 Jan 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 927-938

Sorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoate on polyacrylonitrile fiber-derived activated carbon fibers: in comparison with activated carbon

W. Chen, X. Zhang, M. Mamadiev and Z. Wang, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 927 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA25230C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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