Adsorption and Kinetic study of priority organic pollutant phenol from aqueous waste using Activated carbon

Abstract

Many organic compounds present in industrial and domestic wastewater are carcinogenic in nature. Removal of these organic compounds from waste waters has become a great challenge to waste water treatment technologies as many of them are non-biodegradable in nature. Adsorption on activated carbon has emerged as an efficient and economically viable technology for the removal of a broad spectrum of toxic organic compounds from domestic and industrial waste water. The adsorption of hazardous organic compounds on activated carbon has been the subject of research for the past three decades. In the present study, kinetic study for adsorption of some priority organic pollutants like phenol on activated carbon, was studied at laboratory scale. Series of experiments were carried out to determine kinetics for adsorbate, when present in aqueous solution as a single component. The commercially available bituminous coal based activated carbon Filtrasorb-400 was used as an adsorbent. A simplified interpretation of the kinetic data based on Langmuir theory has been used. The kinetics performed gives the adsorption equilibrium time. The adsorption and desorption rate constants were evaluated from the graph.