Timur Tongur
ABSTRACT Parabens are extensively employed as a preservative, particularly in pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Intensive consumption of parabens triggers an increase in their release to the environment, resulting in them being detected in natural water sources widely. In this study, the adsorption of methylparaben (MP), ethylparaben (EP), and propylparaben (PP) onto graphitized carbon black (GCB) and magnetite GCB from aqueous solution was determined in detail. The morphological properties of GCB and magnetite GCB were examined via field emission scanning electron microscope (FE‐SEM), energy‐dispersive x‐ray spectroscopy (EDX), mapping, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), x‐ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis. The removal efficiencies of MP, EP, and PP were found to be 93%, 91%, and 95% for GCB; 84%, 80%, and 82% for magnetite GCB, respectively. The magnetite GCB adsorbed parabens faster and desorbed better than GCB. Experimental adsorption data were well‐fitted to the pseudo‐second order kinetic and Langmuir‐type isotherm models, suggesting predominantly monolayer‐type adsorption behavior. Thermodynamic parameters indicated that adsorptions of parabens onto adsorbents were exothermic. For MP, EP, and PP, the maximum adsorption capacity values of GCB and magnetite GCB were calculated as 19.8, 19.2, 19.8 mg g −1 and 15.2, 12.7, 12.6 mg g −1 , respectively. After five regenerations, the adsorbents still showed good performances.