polymer as starting material via Friedel–Crafts reaction [21,24–26]. Furthermore, the resulting postcrosslinked polymer displays excel- lent adsorption properties towards both polar and nonpolar organic compounds owning to the large specific surface area and abun- dant micropore volume [24,27–30]. In the light of previous studies, we speculate that aqueous MTBE can be effectively adsorbed onto postcrosslinked polymer with abundant micropores. To our best knowledge, however, the adsorption behaviors of MTBE from aque- ous solution onto postcrosslinked polymer sorbents have rarely been reported in the literature, and the effects of pore structure and surface characteristics of porous polymeric adsorbents on MTBE adsorption remain unclear so far.
In the present study, postcrosslinked polymeric adsorbent was prepared by postcrosslinking of a chloromethylated polymer and adsorption of MTBE from aqueous solution onto the adsorbent was investigated. This study aimed at the characterization of the poly- meric adsorbents, determination of the adsorption isotherms and kinetics, and the comparison of adsorption properties of different polymeric adsorbents to elucidate the adsorption mechanism and evaluate the effects of pore structure and surface chemistry of poly- meric adsorbents on the adsorption of MTBE.