Wastewater Treatment Trial by Double Filtration on Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) Prepared from Peanut Shells

Abstract

The aim of this work is the purification of wastewater by double filtration on granular activated carbon prepared from peanut shells. The samples of carbonized peanut shells were activated with 35% sulfuric acid and finally, we proceeded to the purification tests on double filtration of wastewater. Granular activated carbons (GAC) were very effective for the treatment of turbidity, dissolved oxygen, suspended solids, iron, COD and BOD5 but the best results were observed with nitrite, nitrate and phosphate. However, the second filtration was the most efficient while the lowest rates were observed for pH (17.91% on average), and conductivity (29.71% on average). In addition, this work has allowed increasing the dissolved oxygen by more than 50.16% at the exit of the first filter and more than 105.36% at the exit of the second filter. This study shows that granular activated carbon prepared from peanut shells could be a credible alternative for developing countries in the control of pollution and environmental protection.