Abstract
Adsorption by activated carbons (AC) is an effective option for phenolic wastewater treatment. Three commercial AC, including coal-derived granular activated carbons (GAC950), coal-derived powdered activated carbons (PAC800), and coconut shell-derived powdered activated carbons (PAC1000), were utilized as adsorbent to study its viability and efficiency for phenol removal from wastewater. Pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, and the Weber–Morris kinetic models were used to find out the kinetic parameters and mechanism of adsorption process. Further, to describe the equilibrium isotherms, the experimental data were analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. According to the experimental results, AC presented a micro/mesoporous structure, and the removal of phenol by AC was affected by initial phenol concentration, contact time, pH, temperature, and humic acid (HA) concentration. The pseudo-second order kinetic and Langmuir models were found to fit the experimental data very well, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 169.91, 176.58, and 212.96 mg/g for GAC950, PAC800, and PAC1000, respectively, which was attributed to differences in their precursors and physical appearance. Finally, it was hard for phenol to be desorbed in a natural environment, which confirmed that commercial AC are effective adsorbents for phenol removal from effluent wastewater.
Highlights
Activated carbons (AC) are carbonaceous materials with large specific surface area, superior porosity, high physicochemical-stability, and excellent surface reactivity, extensively used for adsorption of several environmental contaminants, gas separation, heterogeneous catalysis, gas storage, and gas masks, among others [1]
GAC950 and PAC800 were produced by coal, whereas PAC1000 was produced by coconut shell
We investigated the impact of initial phenol concentration (C0 ) by fixing adsorbent dose (50 mg)
Summary
Activated carbons (AC) are carbonaceous materials with large specific surface area, superior porosity, high physicochemical-stability, and excellent surface reactivity, extensively used for adsorption of several environmental contaminants, gas separation, heterogeneous catalysis, gas storage, and gas masks, among others [1]. Almost all carbon-rich precursors can be converted to AC through stabilization (if required), carbonization, and activation [3]. Selection of the raw material depends on the anticipated role of carbon-surface functionalities for given applications, but on the availability and low cost of raw material. In China, coal and coconut shell are the most common precursors for the largescale synthesis of commercial AC. There are two most common physical forms, in which
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