Preparation of magnetic polyaniline nanocomposite and study its application for the removal of dibenzothiophene

The existence of organosulfur compounds such as dibenzothiophene (DBT) in transportation fuels is not only a major source of acid rain, but also the reason many serious diseases of human respiratory system, such as lung cancer. Accordingly, efficient removal of DBT is very important. In the present work, magnetic nanoparticles were synthesis by co-precipitation method and then, these nanoparticles were covered with thin layer of polyaniline by chemical oxidation polymerization method in micellar medium using sodium dodecyl sulfate as surfactant. The synthetic product was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were used to fit equilibrium data for magnetic nanocomposite. Adsorption process could be well described by the Langmuir model (0.9899). The magnetic adsorbent afforded a maximum adsorption capacity of 118.42 mg g-1 at the optimized conditions (adsorbent dose, 0.01g; contact time, 15 min and pH, 9.3).