Adsorption of plant phenols by polystyrene resins

Abstract

Adsorption of nine plant phenols by nine polystyrene ion-exchange resins was investigated in an experimental model system. The phenols were adsorbed by Amberlite CG-120 more efficiently than any other acidically charged resins tested in this study. They were also taken up by anion exchangers. Among them Dowex 1-X8 was found to show the strongest effect on the adsorption of the phenolic constituents applied. A comparison of the efficiency of plant phenol adsorption between two different types of the synthetic polymers revealed that the basically charged polystyrenes had more prefarable affinities for phenols than cation exchangers. For example, the ratio of the efficiency between Amberlite CG-120 and Dowex 1-X8 was roughly calculated to be 3:7 under the present experimental conditions. The adsorption rate of the test phenols was raised mostly by increasing the amount of the resins added, if they were mixed with effective polymers in the incubation model system.