Authors

Abstract

Background: Phenol is one of the main components concerned in the industrial wastewater. Physicochemical or conventional biological methods are usually used for the treatment of wastewater with high concentrations of phenol. At present study, the adsorption potential of phenol from aqueous solutions by Pistachio hull ash was investigated.
Materials and methods: Present study is an experimental survey that was performed in a batch system. To study the efficiency of Pistachio hull ash in phenol removal from aqueous solutions, the effect of critical variables such as contact time (15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105 and 120 min), initial phenol concentration (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 mg/L), adsorbent dosage (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 g/L) and initial pH of solution (2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13) was investigated.
Results: Maximum adsorption capacity of the Pistachio hull ash was 327.6 mg/g at pH 5, initial concentration of 100 mg/L and reaction time 45 min, which 98.28% of the phenol was removed. The adsorption equilibriums were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. It was found that the data fitted to Freundlich (R2=0.9436) better than Langmuir (R2=0.8395) model.
Conclusion: According to achieved results, it was observed that Pistachio hull not only was an inexpensive absorbent, but also a quite effective factor in removal of phenol from water and wastewater.

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