Three different carbon materials (graphite oxide B-16, activated carbon AC16 and graphite powders GP16) have been prepared by ball milling of graphite flakes (G), activated carbon (AC) and graphite powders (GP), respectively. The raw and prepared materials were characterized by particle size distribution, SEM, BET surface area and thermal analysis. The applications of those adsorbents in removal of methylene blue (MB) and phenols from aqueous solutions as well as the influence of various parameters (contact time, initial concentration, adsorbent dose) were investigated. The results indicated that a contact time of 15 min were sufficient to reach equilibrium at pH 5 for both pollutants. MB removal efficiency was more than 99 % for 10-30 mg L-1 concentrations by B-16 and AC16 at room temperature (Fig.1a). On the other hand, phenol removal efficiency was 88.5 and 96.9 % for B-16 and AC16, respectively (Fig.1b). Therefore, BET surface area before and after the adsorption process of both pollutants were presented in Fig.2. Different mathematical models related to the adsorption isotherms and kinetics were applied. The maximum calculated adsorption capacity (qm) from the Langmuir isotherm of MB and phenol at 15 min were 208, 256, 278 mg g-1 and 43, 72, 46 mg g-1 for GP16, AC16 and B-16, respectively. The Langmuir isotherms and the pseudo-second-order models were more suitable than other models for describing the adsorption process (high regression coefficients R2 ≥ 0.95). Furthermore, desorption of the pollutants and regeneration of the carbon materials was investigated.

Adsorption technique for organic pollutants using different carbon materials

255th National Meeting (2018)

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