Adsorption of ibuprofen from aqueous solution on chemically surface-modified activated carbon cloths

This study aims to investigate the performance of an activated carbon cloth for adsorption of ibuprofen. The cloth was oxidized by a NaOCl solution (0.13 mol L −1 ) or thermally treated under N 2 (700 °C for 1 hour). The raw and modified cloths were characterized by N 2 adsorption–desorption measurement at 77 K, CO 2 adsorption at 273 K, Boehm titrations, pH PZC measurements, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy analysis, and by infrared spectroscopy. The NaOCl treatment increases the acidic sites, mostly creating phenolic and carboxylic groups and decreases both the specific surface area and slightly the micropore volume. However, the thermal treatment at 700 °C under N 2 induced a slight increase in the BET specific surface area and yielded to the only increase in the carbonyl group content. Ibuprofen adsorption studies of kinetics and isotherms were carried out at pH = 3 and 7. The adsorption properties were correlated to the cloth porous textures, surface chemistry and pH conditions. The isotherms of adsorption were better reproduced by Langmuir–Freundlich models at 298, 313 and 328 K. The adsorption of ibuprofen on the studied activated carbon cloths at pH 3 was an endothermic process. The pore size distributions of all studied ibuprofen-loaded fabrics were determined by DFT method to investigate the accessible porosity of the adsorbate. Both treatments do not influence the kind of micropores where the adsorption of ibuprofen occurred.