Adsorptive Findings on Selected Biomasses for Removal of Phenol from Aqueous Solutions

Pushpa Jha
Additional contact information
Pushpa Jha: Department of Chemical Engineering, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology, Longowal, Sangrur 148106, India

Resources, 2019, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: India produces an enormous number of biomasses in the form of agricultural and forestry residues. To handle their disposal, they need to be explored as adsorbents, as one of the alternatives for their utilizations. Biomasses, having a high content of carbon, can be used as low-cost adsorptive materials for the removal of phenol from aqueous streams. Ten biomasses, abundantly available in the Sangrur area of Punjab (India), were characterized. Based on their determined characteristics and availability, Acacia nilotica branches (ANB), Lantana camera (LC), and rice husk (RH) were selected for the study. As these biomasses removed low percentages of phenol, they were activated using thermochemical treatment. Their properties as adsorbents improved significantly. When they were subjected to phenol sequestration, the percentage removal of adsorbate was at 97%, 90%, and 83% by activated ANB (ANBC), activated LC (LCC), and activated RH (RHC), respectively. The equilibrium and kinetics of the process of adsorption on these activated biomasses were analyzed mathematically. It was possible to regenerate the spent ANBC, LCC, and RHC in a single step, with 1 M NaOH solution.

Keywords: Acacia nilotica branches; adsorption; biomass; circular economy; lantana camera; phenol; reuse; rice-husk; waste management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/8/4/180/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/8/4/180/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jresou:v:8:y:2019:i:4:p:180-:d:292394

Access Statistics for this article

Resources is currently edited by Ms. Donchian Ma

More articles in Resources from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().