Synthesis of hybrid magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers for the selective adsorption of volatile fatty acids from anaerobic effluents

A novel magnetic, structured (with ordered pores) and hybrid imprinted polymer (HMMIP) was synthesized to selectively adsorb volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from aqueous matrices. Usual characterization techniques showed that a mesoporous adsorbent was obtained with relatively low specific areas but that could selectively (imprinting factor of 1.64) remove isovaleric acid (used as template) from aqueous solutions and effluents containing VFAs with a good capacity (Q_e ~ 50 mg g^?1). From kinetic studies a pseudo‐nth‐order model showed the best fit to the experimental data and resulted in k _{n = 3} equal to 8 × 10^?4 g mg^?1 min^?1 whereas thermodynamic studies indicated that the adsorption of isovaleric acid onto HMMIP was endothermic and entropically driven. Reuse studies indicated that HMMIP loaded with VFA could be efficiently regenerated with acetone–water solution which led to an adsorption loss of ca 10% after three regeneration/reuse cycles and that the magnetic and specific adsorbent could be removed from complex matrices with an efficiency of ca 77%. Biochemical methane production assays showed that the addition of HMMIP to anaerobic batch reactors increased by four times the methane production due to the selective adsorption of VFAs. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry