Phenol Adsorption in Water by Granular Activated Carbon from Coconut Shell

Abstract

Phenol adsorption by granular activated carbon from coconut shell was studied in batch experiments under various initial phenol concentrations. Adsorption equilibrium was reached within 4 hours. The characteristics of the phenol adsorption process onto granular activated carbon from coconut shell were studied by adsorption isotherm modeling, analysis that uses fluorescence spectroscopy, in addition to measuring nanoparticle size and volume distribution by a Zetasizer Nano. The Langmuir isotherm model best fits the phenol adsorption onto granular activated carbon from coconut shell, and the maximum adsorption capacities for unsterilized and sterilized types were found to be 17.54 mg/g and 13.70 mg/g, respectively. The excitation-emission matrix results showed that the humic-like substance’s peaks almost completely disappear post-adsorption. It was also found that the nanoparticle size distribution shifted from ranges of 0.72–1.74 nm in raw water to 45.66–726.73 nm and 57.08–1068.47 nm post-adsorption in unsterilized and sterilized water samples, respectively, suggesting that phenol adsorption had occurred. This study shows that low-cost coconut shell–based activated carbon demonstrated good removal capability and hence can be used as a new adsorbent material on large scale.

Keywords

• adsorption
• coconut shell
• eems
• nanoparticle
• phenol