Adsorption of toluene on mesoporous materials from waste solar panel as silica source

The adsorption of toluene was tested with MCM-41 and mesoporous silica materials (S-MCM) synthesized from waste solar panel. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption–desorption analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were applied to characterize the prepared samples. In addition, the adsorption capacities of MCM-41 and S-MCM were almost the same which was observed according to the breakthrough experiments. The adsorption capacity of toluene in S-MCM was 57, 104, 200 and 277 mg g− 1 for initial toluene concentrations of 250 to 1500 ppm respectively. The effects of the operation parameters, such as contact time and initial concentration on adsorption performance, were also tested in this study.