Phenol adsorption by activated carbon of different fibre size derived from empty fruit bunches
2012
The capacity of empty fruit bunch-based activated carbon for phenol adsorption was studied. Four different particle sizes of activated carbon (AC) (unsieved, > 2, 0.355-1.0 and < 0.15 mm mesh number) were produced by the activation of prepared charcoal with CO2. Activated carbon with particle size greater than 2 mm demonstrated the highest percentage of phenol adsorption. The performance of this activated carbon in phenol removal was better than commercially available activated carbon with an adsorption capacity of the AC sample and the commercial AC at equilibrium time amounting to 73% and 68%, respectively. The experimental data were analysed using the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models. The kinetics of adsorption were well described by a pseudo-second order model, whilst the adsorption equilibrium was best represented by the Langmuir isotherm model. * Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia. ** Malaysian Palm Oil Board, P. O. Box 10620, 50720 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: astimar@mpob.gov.my set by the Environmental Quality Act of Malaysia is 0.001 mg litre-1. Currently, phenols are abated in wastewater by a separation process: through liquid-liquid extraction, distillation, adsorption, membranesolvent extraction, electrochemical treatments, or microwave-induced heating (Bi et al., 2007; Busca et al., 2008). It appears that the adsorption of phenols by activated carbon is the best option over the other methods due to zero-sludge production. Activated carbon (AC) is most widely used in the adsorption process due to its chemical and mechanical stability, high degree of surface reactivity and high adsorption capacity (Demirbas, 2004; Azargohar and Dalai, 2005). In fact, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has recommended AC as one of the best available technologies in removing organic pollutants. However, commercially available AC is expensive, and thus researchers have been conducting a lot of studies on the feasibility of using less expensive raw materials, such as from rice husk (Yalcin and Sevinc, 2000), sawdust (Malik, 2004), hard wood (Arriagada et al., 2005), coconut shell (Hu and Srinivasan, 1999; Yang et al., 2010), coffee grounds (Reffas et al., 2010), and sugar-cane (Liou, 2010). INTRODUCTION Phenolics are a pollutant that are often found in effluents from the palm oil mill, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, paint, pulp and paper, and other industries (Shaarani and Hameed, 2010). These compounds are normally used as intermediates in the synthesis of pesticides, colours, plastics, insecticides, and many more substances. Improper treatment of these polluting compounds may produce a negative impact on human life and the environment, by contaminating the soil and polluting the ground water. Furthermore, their toxicity may seriously affect microorganisms. The permissible level of phenolic compounds before discharge into surface water and municipal sewers
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