Adsorption of 4-Nitrophenol from wastewater using Sea Mango (Cerbera odollam) based Activated Carbon

Abstract

The presence of phenols and phenolic compounds in water and wastewater has gained great public attention and it is one of the most frequent pollutants in wastewater. In this study, the adsorption of 4-Nitrophenol from wastewater using activated carbon prepared from the non-edible Sea Mango (Cerbera odollam) fruit was investigated. The Sea Mango Activated Carbon (SMAC) was prepared through a physicochemical activation which consists of H3PO4 impregnation and followed by CO2 gasification. The influences of process variables represented by solution pH value, contact time, initial concentration and adsorbent dosage on removal efficiency of 4-NP onto Sea Mango Raw Material (SMRM) and Sea Mango Activated Carbon (SMAC) were studied. Result showed that the optimum pH for 4-NP removal was at pH 3. The dosage usage required to complete 100 ml of 4-NP on SMRM and SMAC was 1.0 g. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the adsorption process, and it was found that the Freundlich isotherm effectively fits the experimental data for the adsorbates better than the Langmuir model with the highest adsorption capacity 158.730 mg/g of 4-nitrophenol on SMAC. It was found that 70.49% and 97.98% of 4-NP was adsorbed onto SMRM and SMAC, respectively, at an initial concentration of 20 mg/L.