Adsorption of acenaphthene using date seed activated carbon

Abstract

Background and Objective: Discharge of emerging pollutants in water bodies is increasing with industrial growth. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are organic compounds that are carcinogenic, bio-accumulative and do not break down easily in our environment, are frequently found in wastewaters. The objective of this study is to utilize locally available cheap/waste material specifically date seeds for the removal of PAHs from wastewater. Materials and Methods: In this study, waste date seeds were used for preparation of granular activated carbon (GAC) and applied for removal of PAH’s (specifically acenaphthene) from aqueous phase by setting up of batch experiments which has not been applied has been investigated. The removal efficiencies were compared against GAC available commercially made of coconut shell. In a preliminary study, equilibrium time and optimum GAC dosage were determined in batch experiments using commercial GAC. The efficiency of our produced GAC compared to commercial GAC at different initial PAH’s concentration (16-40 µg L-1) have been studied at 25EC temperature. Results: Results showed that GAC produced from date seeds out performed commercial GAC. Nonlinear regression analysis were performed for Langmuir and Freundlich models and it was found that Freundlich model has the closest fit for the data. Conclusion: The relative simplicity and low cost of producing our date seed GAC makes it an alternative to other available commercial GAC in the market for the removal of acenaphthene. However, it should be noted that our batch experiments were done at different initial pollutant concentration and didn’t take into consideration effects of variations in GAC mass, time and temperature on the adsorption process.