Experimental Investigation on Abstraction of Phenol Onto Micrococcus lylae and Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide

Air floatation, an efficient solid–liquid separation process, was tested as a post treatment technique for phenol removal. The results consider about the practical solutions for certain operations such as efficient solid–liquid separation, attainment of maximized percentage removal, phenol rich solution with Micrococcus lylae cells, and pure water without M. lylae cells. The two processes, biosorption and flotation, can effectively operate in combination and both the sorbent and treated water can be recycled. The effect of various operating parameters, such as initial feed concentration, equilibrium time, biosorbent dose, pH, liquid pool height, surfactant concentration, and air flow rate, was experimentally investigated. The maximum sorption capacity was found to be 303 mg/g at pH 7 and an initial phenol concentration of 500 mg/L. The higher floatability of M. lylae was obtained in a maximum time of 10 min. In addition, the adsorption isotherm and kinetic studies revealed that the biosorption process followed the Dubinin–Radushkevich model (R2 = 0.982) and pseudo‐first order kinetics with a kinetic constant of 2.6537/day. The adsorbed chemical species was identified by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Electrokinetic measurements were carried out to determine the isoelectric point of the bacteria. The zeta potential profile of the bacteria was affected by the presence of phenol at different pH values. The recovery of phenol loaded biomass and final traces of phenol by flotation were found to be 99.91%. Phenol presents a global problem to humanity due to its toxicity, persistency, carcinogenic, and mutagenic nature. Air floatation, an efficient solid–liquid separation process, is tested as a post treatment technique for phenol removal. The results of the biosorptive foam separation process endorse that it has potential application in treatment of high phenol contaminated industrial effluents.