A commercial zirconium phosphate was subjected to annealing in NaCl–NaOH aqueous solution until pH 3.2. The new material (Na-ZrP) and its n-butylamine intercalation product were characterized, among others, by powder X-ray diffraction, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy, being Na-ZrP a non-porous polyphasic semicrystalline material, constituted mainly of plate-shaped particles with domains of α-Zr(HPO4)2·H2O and α-Zr(NaPO4)(HPO4)·nH2O type. Na-ZrP was tested as an adsorbent for elimination of biogenic amines (histamine, putrescine, cadaverine, and tyramine) in synthetic wine. Among the studied amines, histamine is the fastest adsorbed (individually and competitively), followed by cadaverine, putrescine and tyramine. All of them present L2-type individual isotherms. Competitive isotherms are also L2-type except cadaverine (L-Max) and tyraminte (Type C). Histamine and putrescine are the amines absorbed in higher amounts. The results from adsorption isotherms and kinetic measurements (individual and competitive) fit the adsorption classical models showing that the preferential adsorption mechanism is the ion-exchange of the cationic amines with Na+ cations present in the adsorbent, being not discarded that some amines could be joined by hydrogen bonds.

The authors thank FEDER and Spanish MINECO for financial support under projects MAT2010-15094, and Técnicos de Infraestructuras Científico-Tecnológicas grant PTA2011-4903-I to ZA and PTA2011-4950-I to SAK.

Peer Reviewed