Adsorption Process for Removal of Phenol from Synthetic Waste Water By Using Activated Carbon

 Mother Nature - we all have been talking about but how many of us are serious about protecting her. Already we have created havoc and one of the major contributors is chemical industries. Phenol is a refractory pollutant which is found in effluent. The concentration is low in the effluent but it is much effective to disturb the environment. Phenol can be removed economically by using cost effective techniques like adsorption.

Pilot plant lab scale set up was constructed. Groundnut shell was used as raw material to remove phenol from synthetic waste water. Activated carbon and charcoal were produced by pyrolysis process to carbonize the material and which were activated by using chemical activation process. Charcoal was treated with different acids such as HNO3, H2SO4, HCL, H3PO4 and water for activation purpose and it was concluded that H3PO4 was the most suitable activating agent for groundnut shell charcoal.

The objective of this pilot plant experiment was to investigate the performance of charcoal and activated carbon as adsorbents for adsorbing phenol from its aqueous solution and to conclude their effectiveness and satisfactory results were obtained.