Adsorption of phenols from wastewater

The present work involves an investigation of the possible use of coal, residual coal, and residual coal treated with H3PO4 as a means of removal of phenol from wastewater. The study was realized using batch experiments, with synthetic wastewater having phenol concentration of 1000 ppm. Other low-cost adsorbents such as petroleum coke, coke breeze, rice husk, and rice husk char have also been used. The effect of system variables such as pH, contact time, and temperature has been investigated. The suitability of the Freundlich, Langmuir, and Redlich-Peterson adsorption models to the equilibrium data was investigated for each phenol-adsorbent system. The results showed that the equilibrium data for all the phenol-sorbent systems fitted the Redlich-Peterson model best. Kinetic modeling of removal of phenols was done using the Lagergren first-order rate expression. A series of column experiments were performed to determine the breakthrough curves.