ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Water and Wastewater Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1605083
Novel MOF-Derived Carbon-Embedded Acicular Mullite for Efficient Removal of Bisphenol A and 17α-Ethinylestradiol: Adsorption Mechanisms and thermodynamic studies
Provisionally accepted
- 1China National Chemical Construction Investment Group Co.，Ltd, Beijing, China
- 2Changjiang Survey，Planning，Design and Research Co.，Ltd, Wuhan, China
- 3Hubei Provincial Engineering Research Center for Comprehensive Water Environment Treatment in the Yangtze River Basin, Wuhan, China
- 4Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Management and Protection of Ministry of Water Resources, Wuhan, China
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Efficient removal of environmental endocrine disruptors (EDCs) from water is crucial for both human health and aquatic ecosystems security. In this study, MOF-derived carbon embedded granular acicular mullite (MOF-M-C) was synthesized, characterization, and application for the adsorption of bisphenol A (BPA) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) from aqueous solutions. Results showed that the loading capacity of MOFs derived carbon on acicular mullite was 11.81% (w/w). The adsorption kinetics revealed that the process follows a pseudo-second-order model, indicating chemisorption as the dominant mechanism. In the single system, the adsorption capacity for BPA by MOFs derived carbon (MOF-CB) and the MOF-M-C were 51.704 and 71.68 mg•g -1 , respectively. While for EE2, the values were 85.414 and 53.78 mg•g -1 , respectively. In the binary system, EE2 and BPA competed for adsorption sites, with EE2 showing stronger affinity due to its higher hydrophobicity. Thermodynamic analysis confirmed that the adsorption was spontaneous, endothermic, and entropy-driven. The material's performance was minimally affected by pH and ionic strength, making it robust for practical applications. Additionally, MOF-M-C demonstrated excellent regeneration efficiency, retaining over 80% of its adsorption capacity after four cycles.These findings highlight MOF-M-C as a promising, reusable adsorbent for the effective removal of endocrine-disrupting compounds from water.
Keywords: Adsorption; bisphenol A1, 17α-ethinylestradiol2, acicular mullite3, matal-organic framework derived carbon4, isosteric heat5
Received: 03 Apr 2025; Accepted: 09 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Xiong, Xu, Xu, Liu, Wang and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qiuhong Zhou, Changjiang Survey，Planning，Design and Research Co.，Ltd, Wuhan, China
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