REMOVAL OF TRACE ORGANICS USING ACTIVATED CHARCOAL

Abstract

Phenolic wastes arise from the distillation of wood, from gas works, coke ovens, oil refineries, chemical plants, sheep dips and from animal and human reålse. In order to get rid of phenolic and other trace organic compounds, activated carbon treatment has been found to be one of the best methods. World over, lot of work has been done on carbon adsorption whereas in Pakistan very little work has been done. The only limitation of this method is the high cost of activation. This study was conducted in order to (l) •omlocal)y (2) investigate the application potential of low cost adsorption (3) study the performance of locally activated charcoal. Research was conducted in the following phases to find out: Phase I. Optimum activation temperature Phase Il. Optimum activation time Phase Ill. Optimum concentration for adsorption Phase IV. Adsorption efficiency Phase V. Adsorption capacity During the entire period of research charcoal used was activated in the laboratory ffrnace. The results of the phase I and Il showed that optimum activation temperature and activation time for different sized charcoal (4.75-3.35, 3.35-2, 2-1, <lmm) was different and was found to be 1000, 900, 900 and 80000 and 15, 30, 30, 30 min respectively. In phase Ill different concentration ranges (5-100ppm) of 4-Nitrophenol were used and the results indicated that the above concentration range does not effect the adsorption effciency significantly. The results of phase IV showed that charcoal adsorption also occurs at temperature as low as 200-