Wastewater Treatment Using Activated Carbon Produced from Oil Shale

In recent years, many researchers have expressed interest in wastewater treatment using activated carbon pro-duced from cheap raw materials. In this work, an activated carbo-aluminosilicate (ACS) - supported zero-valent iron (ZVI) composite was produced from Um AL-Rasa oil shale mine and examined to eliminate Chromium (VI) from contaminated water. Activation of raw oil shale fine particles (< 212 mu m) was chemically performed using 95 and 5% wt of H2SO4 and HNO3, respectively, as activating agents. The activated material was further treated with caustic soda, named ACS, and modified with fine zero-valent iron particles < 212 mu m), called ZVI/ACS composite. Kaolin was added to the composite with the ratio: (50 % wt. light kaolin: 50 % wt. ACS), named as ZVI/ACS/K. The XRD analysis for both composites confirmed iron dispersion at 45 degrees. Adsorption experiments were carried out using the two adsorbents ZVI/ACS & ZVI/ACS/K under different values of pH, and adsorbent dosage. The results indicated that the reduction of Chromium was maximum under the 3 pH value and 2.0 gm amount of ZVI/ACS/K. Furthermore, it was found the removal rate was enhanced by 17% and 24.7% when ZVI/ACS & ZVI/ACS/K adsorbents were used, respectively, compared to that when only ACS adsorbent was used alone. Finally, the de-pendency of Chromium removal on its initial concentration by ZVI/ACS/K adsorbent was also investigated at two different temperatures of 27 degrees and 50 degrees. The results indicated a decrease in the removal rate of the Chromium as the concentration increased at 27 degrees; however, the removal rate previously enhanced at 50 degrees at all initial concentrations.