Investigation of the Adsorption Potentials of an Organic Adsorbent for Phenol Removal from Aqueous Solution

Abstract

Phenol is a prevalent pollutant found in many industrial wastewaters, and it is paid singular attention because of its special features including high toxicity, carcinogenic properties, and vital cumulative ability that affects the health of humans and the environment. The current study investigated the removal of phenol from synthetic aqueous solutions using prepared Moringaoleifera seed shell as an adsorbent. The efficiency of phenol removal by Moringaoleifera seed shell was evaluated in a batch system, and different parameters such as initial concentration of phenol (100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 mg/L), contact time (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 min), and adsorbent dosage (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 g) were studied. The results showed that the highest percentage of phenol removal by the ash occurred at 0.8 g dosage, contact time of 40 min, and initial concentration of 500 mg/L giving 87.2% phenol removal. The adsorption process was modeled with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and adsorption kinetics (pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order) at controlled temperatures. The results showed that the experimental data fitted the Langmuir (R2 = 0.8338) much better than the Freundlich model (R2 = 0.7314). For the analysis of the adsorption kinetics, the results showed that the experimental data fitted the pseudo-second order kinetics (R2 = 0.999) much better than the pseudo-first order kinetics (R2 = 0.5042). In general, the results of this study revealed that Moringaoleifera seed shell has suitable potential for use in removing phenol from aqueous solution on operation and practical scales due to its availability and organic nature.