Parametric, Isotherm and Kinetic Studies on the Removal of Phenol from an Aqueous Solution and Industrial Wastewater Using Calamansi Peels Activated Carbon Adsorbent

Author : Rubias, Verlyn Amio
Major Adviser : Eusebio, Ramon Christian P.
Committee Members : Gatdula, Kristel M.; Capunitan, Jewel A.
Year : 2019
Month : July
Type : Thesis
Degree: BS
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Abstract

This research discusses the adsorption of phenol on an activated carbon from peels of calamansi which was synthesized using two-step activation with 50 % KOH solution, impregnation ratio of 4, activation time of 2 hours and activation temperature of 750 °C. SEM results revealed that more pores where formed after activation while EDX results showed that carbon and oxygen are the main elements that are present on the surface of the synthesized carbon with weight concentrations of 67.75 % and 23.62 % respectively indicating the presence of adsorption sites for phenol. The activated carbon has a surface area of 1225.934 m2/g and a pore volume of 0.039 cc/g. The contact time for adsorption was 150 minutes while the pHpzc was found to be 8. Increasing the dsorbent dose was also found to increase the removal of phenol from the solution while increasing the initial phenol concentration decreases the percent removal. There was also a heterogeneous phase of adsorption between phenol and the activated carbon as indicated by the good fit with Freundlich Isotherm with R2 of 0.9917. The value of 1/n equals to 0.608 also showed that the adsorption process is favorable. The adsorption of phenol on the activated carbon was found to be governed by chemisorption as it follows the pseudo-second order kinetic model where the maximum capacity of the activated carbon was 10.3199 mg/g while the rate constant was 0.02162 g/mg-min.


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