Caffeine Removal by Adsorption: Kinetics, Equilibrium Thermodynamic and Regeneration Studies

Abstract

In this work, it was studied the caffeine removal through the adsorption on granular activated carbon (CAG). The influence of pH, contact time and CAG dosage were analyzed by batch experiments. Adsorption Kinetic was studied using the models of pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order. The adsorption equilibrium data was studied with Langmuir, Freundlich, and Redlich-Peterson isotherm models. The process thermodynamic also was studied. It was obtained 88 % of removal under the experimental conditions of natural pH, 60 min of adsorption and 8 g.L-1 of CAG. The kinetic model that showed the best results was the pseudo-secondorder and Langmuir was the isotherm model that best described the adsorption behavior. The thermodynamic parameters obtained showed a spontaneous, endothermic and reversible process. The desorption efficiency also was studied by regenerant solvents. The best results were obtained using a solvent combination of ethyl acetate, ethanol, and water (50:25:25), and it was obtained a caffeine removal of 57 %, achieving 70 % when a new solution is used in each regeneration step.