Evaluation of chitin and chitosan as a sorbent for the preconcentration of phenol and chlorophenols in water

Abstract

The evaluation of the applicability of chitin and chitosan as a sorbent material to solid phase extraction of phenol and chlorophenols was made by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). For the measurement of the adsorptive capabilities, adsorption isotherms as well as breakthrough curves were obtained by means of batch experiments or column experiments respectively. The increasing tendency of the amount of adsorption with the number of chlorine atom in phenol molecules was observed for both chitin and chitosan. The driving force of the interaction could be attributed to hydrogen bonding among electro-negative atoms in chitin, chitosan or chlorophenols.