A comparative adsorption/biosorption for the removal of phenol and lead onto granular activated carbon and dried anaerobic sludge

ABSTRACT

The potential use of dried anaerobic granular sludge (DAGS) as a substitute for granular activated carbon (GAC) for removing phenol and lead from aqueous solution was examined in a batch system. To make the comparison between adsorption/biosorption process fair, the working sorption pH, temperature, mixing speed and contact time were fixed at 4, 30°C, 250 rpm and 24 h, respectively for both the sorbents. Adsorption/biosorption isotherms were developed for both the single and binary component systems and expressed by four models. Model parameters were estimated by the nonlinear regression method using STATISTICA version 6 and EXCEL 2007 software. The maximum loading capacity (q _m) of the phenol was 66.8234 and 37.0370 mg/g for lead onto GAC, while it was 70.0183 mg/g for phenol and 89.8783 mg/g for lead onto DAGS in single system. However, in binary system, the loading capacity decreased because of competition between compounds to binding sites of adsorbent/biosorbent.

Keywords:

• Adsorption
• GAC
• Biosorption
• DAGS
• Phenol
• Lead
• Adsorption isotherms

Acknowledgments

This research was carried out during the author written of his PhD thesis “Performance of Adsorption/Biosorption for Removal of Organic and Inorganic Pollutants”. Deep thanks to the support of the supervisors, Prof. Dr Abbas H. Sulamon and Prof. Dr. Dheyaa W. Abbood.