In this study, a strong silica aerogel was synthesized by using polyethoxydisiloxne (PEDS) as a precursor and hexamethyldisilazane (HMDZ) as a surface modifier. The obtained aerogel was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and nitrogen adsorption/desorption at 77 K. The aerogel product holds a surface area of 883 m2/g, total pore volume of .68 cm3/g, and mean pore diameter of 12.14 nm. The hydrophobicity of aerogel was also investigated by contact angle of water that was measured as 140°. In order to investigate the mechanical strength of the aerogel, uniaxial compression test was performed. The result showed a compressional strength value of 44.46 MPa for the synthesized aerogel. The obtained aerogel was then used for batch adsorption experiment to remove paradichlorobenzene (p-DCB) from water. The results showed that adsorption does not significantly correlate with the pH of solution and high adsorption capacity was obtained in the whole solution pH range of 2–10. Kinetic studies showed that the system followed pseudo-second-order model. Also, the equilibrium adsorption data was well fitted by Freundlich isotherm. Thermodynamic studies confirmed that the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic in the studied temperature range of 299–325 K.

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