PHENOL REMOVAL FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS USING PISTACHIO-NUT SHELL ASH AS A LOW COST ADSORBENT

Phenol is one of the major components concerned in industrial wastewater. Physico-chemical or conventional biological methods are usually used for the treatment of wastewater with high concentrations of phenol. In the present study, the adsorption potential of pistachio-nut shell ash in a batch system for the removal of phenol from aqueous solutions was investigated. Batch kinetics and isotherm studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of contact time (15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105 and 120 min), initial pH of solution (2-13), initial phenol concentration (1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 mg super(-1)), and adsorbent dose (0.1-0.6 g L super(-1)) on sorption efficiency. Maximum adsorption capacity (98.28% phenol removed) of the pistachionut shell ash was 327.6 mg/g at pH 5, initial concentration of 100 mg L super(-1) and 25 plus or minus 2 degree C. The adsorption equilibriums were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. It was found that the data fitted to Freundlich (R super(2) = 0.9436) better than Langmuir (R super(2) = 0.8395) model. According to the achieved results, it was defined that pistachio-nut shell not only was an inexpensive absorbent, but also a quite effective factor in removal of phenol from water and wastewater.