Enhanced sorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from aqueous solution by modified pine bark

To enhance removal efficiency of natural sorbent with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), single-solute and bi-solute sorption of phenanthrene and pyrene onto raw and modified pine bark were investigated. Pine bark was modified using Soxhlet extraction, saponification and acid hydrolysis, yielding six bark fractions with different chemical compositions. Raw pine bark exhibited high affinities with PAHs, and sorption was dominated by partitioning. The relatively nonlinear sorption isotherms of modified bark were attributed to the specific interaction between sorbate and aromatic core of sorbent. Comparison with lipid and suberin, lignin was the most powerful sorption medium, but which was almost completely suppressed by coexisting polysaccharide. After consuming polysaccharide by acid hydrolysis, sorption of pine bark fractions was notably increased (4–17 folds); and sorption of pyrene just decreased 16–34% with phenanthrene as a competitor. These observations suggest that pine bark is of great potential for PAHs removal and can be significantly promoted by acid hydrolysis for environmental application.