Magnetic activated carbon synthesis to reduce COD from the wastewater of Parsian Khavaran fibers factory using hybrid system of adsorption and membrane

Treatment of the fiber factories wastewater, due to the high amount of COD, is essential. This research involves COD reduction from the wastewater of Parsian Khavaran fibers factory, using hybrid system of adsorption onto magnetic activated carbon and membrane. The magnetic activated carbon was derived from pistachio nut shell through chemical activation process (with phosphoric acid) and co-precipitation method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, BET analysis and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were used for magnetic activated carbon characterization. According to the results, the surface of the magnetic activated carbon was uniformly porous, including spherical particles of diameter 40-70 nm. The BET surface analysis showed that the specific surface area and the total pore volume were 479.59 m2g-1 and 0.665 cm3g-1, respectively, and considering the VSM analysis, the magnetization of the magnetic activated carbon was determined equal to 4.615 emu g-1. Moreover, the effect of pH and adsorbent concentration on COD reduction were discussed. Consequently, the maximum reduction of COD took place in neutral condition with the concentration of 17 g/l of magnetic activated carbon.