Abstract
A continuous fixed bed study was carried out by using granular activated carbon produced from olive stone for the removal of phenol from aqueous solution. The effects of initial phenol concentration (40-250 mg/l), feed flow rate (2.2-8.4 ml/min) and activated carbon bed depth (5-20 cm) on the breakthrough characteristics of the adsorption system were determined. The obtained results showed that the adsorption capacity increases with the bed depth and the initial concentration and it decreases at higher flow rate. Three models namely Clark, Thomas, and Yoon - Nelson were employed to predict the breakthrough curves and to determine the characteristic parameters of the column useful for column design. These models fitted well the adsorption data with coefficient of correlation R2>0.9 at different conditions. The activated carbon from olive stone was shown to be suitable adsorbent for adsorption of phenol using fixed bed adsorption.
Highlights
Adsorption is known as an effective process for the removal of hazardous pollutants from wastewater
Equilibrium relationship between the concentration of phenol in the aqueous solution and the concentration of adsorbed phenol at a constant temperature is represented by an adsorption isotherm
We found that in spite of its micro porosity and its great specific surface, the granular activated carbon produced chemically (GACB) does not adsorb as much phenol as the physical one which has a weaker specific surface (700 m2/g )
Summary
Adsorption is known as an effective process for the removal of hazardous pollutants from wastewater. It can be carried out in batch systems with powdered adsorbents or in continuous flow in packed bed column. Fixed bed adsorption is simple to operate, and it can be relatively scaled up from a laboratory-scale study. Comparing with batch procedure, fixed bed is more effective for the cycle operation of adsorption/desorption, as it makes the best use of the concentration difference known to be a driving force for adsorption and allows more efficient utilization of the sorbent capacity and results in a better quality of the effluent. Fixed bed adsorption was tested for the elimination of several pollutants in effluents resulting from various industries
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