Kinetic, equilibrium and thermodynamic studies of the adsorption of paracetamol in activated carbon in batch model and fixed-bed column

Abstract

Abstract This work studied the removal of paracetamol through the adsorption process using the granular activated carbon. The results indicated that it was possible to obtain 95% of removal under the experimental conditions of pH 6, 120 min of process and 5 g L−1 of solid adsorbent. The kinetic model that best fit the experimental data was the pseudo-first order. The isotherm model that best fit the experimental data was the Sips. The thermodynamic tests indicated that the adsorption process was favorable and spontaneous and confirmed the endothermic nature of the process. In fixed bed column adsorption, the best operating condition found was obtained using the flow rate of 3 mL min−1 and bed mass equal to 0.5 g. In this case, the system presented the highest volume of treated PAR effluent, of 810 mL per gram of carbon in the bed, besides a longer rupture time and bed saturation.

Keywords

• Pharmaceuticals compounds
• Paracetamol
• Adsorption
• Activated carbon
• Fixed-bed column