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 degrees 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, FT-IR 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 degrees 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 (R-2 = 0.985) for NH3-ACDK, (R-2 = 0.980) for NaOH-ACDK. The adsorption isotherm follows the Langmuir design and is fitted well compared to Freundlich models with (R-2= 0,999) for NaOH-ACDK, Langmuir, and Freundlich isotherms models fit the experimental equilibrium data for NH3-ACDK) with correlation coefficient (R-2 >= 0,989). The removal percentage of phenol on NH3-ACDK, and NaOH-ACDK was 97,6 % and 70,3%, respectively.