Phenol Adsorption on Modified Adsorbents NH3-Activated Carbon, NaOH-Activated Carbon: Characterization, Kinetic and Isotherm Modeling

In the present study, an organic wastewater industrial pollutant such as a phenol was removed by the improved modified adsorbents: NH3-activated carbon, and NaOH-activated. When the activated carbon ACDK was recovered from agricultural waste Date Kernel and prepared via pyrolysis and thermal activation at 850 ° C. The modification of the activated carbon surface ACDK was ready chemically with the impregnation in the 10wt % ammonia solution to obtain a modified adsorbent: NH3-ACDK, the impregnation of ACDK in 10 wt% Sodium Hydroxide solution for the second modified adsorbent: NaOH-ACDK. The modified functional samples were characterized by SEM, FTIR and DRX, TGA-DSC. The results established that phenol molecules were favorable for adsorption on the nitrogen group and hydroxide group of activated carbon at pH 4, solution temperature (28°C), and contact time (60-100 minutes). The adsorption kinetics of phenol on the modified adsorbents were better adapted to the pseudo-second-order adsorption model with (R² = 0.985) for NH3-ACDK, (R² = 0.980) for NaOH-ACDK. The adsorption isotherm follows the Langmuir design and is fitted well compared to Freundlich models with (R2= 0,999) for NaOH-ACDK, Langmuir, and Freundlich isotherms models fit the experimental equilibrium data for NH3-ACDK) with correlation coefficient (R²≥ 0,989). The removal percentage of phenol on NH3-ACDK, and NaOH-ACDK was 97,6 % and 70,3%, respectively.