Study on color removal of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) effluent using granular activated carbon

Abstract

Recycling of sewage treatment plant (STP) effluent is one of the attractive solutions to fulfill clean water for hotels and malls in Indonesia. STP effluent has average characteristics as follow: pH 6.8; color (true color) 107 PtCo; A254 (UV absorption) 0.36 cm-1 and COD 35.9 mg/L. Because of high color and organics contents, STP effluent needs further treatment such as activated carbon adsorption. Batch and continuous treatment of synthetic STP effluent by a commercial granular activated carbon (Filtrasorb 300) were investigated. The results show that adsorption capacity of the Filtrasorb 300 for color body of STP effluent was 184 PCU/g of carbon. Langmuir model is appropriate to describe the isotherm adsorption process in this study, with Qm: 476.2 PCU/g of carbon. The results of isotherm adsorption model evaluation, SEM photograph and FTIR analysis show that color adsorption occurred was physical adsoption.