Selective removal of silicic acid by a gallic-acid modified resin

Abstract

Abstract To remove silicic acid from aqueous solutions, a novel gallic acid-type resin (GA-type resin) was prepared by a grafting method. The effects of the adsorption capacity, pH and presence of NaCl, NaNO3, Na2SO4, and NaCO3 salts on the silicic acid removal were studied. The GA-type resin adsorbs monosilicic acid, silicate ions, and polymeric silicic acid. The adsorption capacity of 4.64–4.94 mg/g was achieved in a short adsorption time (Qm of 8.99 mg/g) and is 30–40 times larger than that of the OH-type resin. The silicic acid removal efficiency was almost unaffected by the pH and common anions when the common anion and silicic acid contents were similar, proving the GA-type resin exhibits an excellent performance for selective adsorption of silicic acid. The Temkin isotherm model can well describe the adsorption process, which is chemical adsorption, and indicates that the adsorption heat decreases with the increasing adsorption amount. The adsorption mechanism of silicic acid on the GA-type resin involves dehydration condensation reactions of the hydroxyl groups in silicic acid and gallic acid. The GA-type resin can be efficiently regenerated and reused after treatment with an HCl solution.