Effective removal of humic acid by mesoporous Zr-MOF adjusted through SDBS

Humic acid (HA) in makeup water is one of the important safety issues of high-parameter power plants. Herein, the Zr-based metal-organic frameworks (NH2-UiO-66) was applied to remove humic acid in water. The mesoporous of NH2-UiO-66 was controlled by surfactants sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS) to increase the adsorption of HA. The adsorption of HA at 25°C and pH 7 increased fast at the first 0.5 h and then gradually reached equilibrium after 10 h. The maximum adsorption capacity was 108.93 mg g−1, which removal efficiency was high as 95.0%. The morphology and adsorption properties of NH2-UiO-66 were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), surface charge, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), N2 adsorption–desorption, and adsorption test. The adsorption process of HA accorded with the pseudo-second-order kinetics, while the adsorption isotherm conformed to be the Langmuir model and the adsorption was proved to be monolayer adsorption. Adsorption was the spontaneous and endothermic process (ΔG°<0, ΔH°>0). The accessible surface area provided by mesopores on the 5 different Zr-MOFs was the reason for the enhanced HA adsorption capacity. These results provided useful information for effective HA removing and enhanced our understanding of the adsorption mechanism of HA on NH2-UiO-66.Graphical abstract