Equilibrium adsorption of single and binary components of phenolic compounds in aqueous solution onto activated natural zeolite

Experiments were conducted to investigate the adsorption behavior of phenolic compounds, namely phenol and chlorophenol, onto activated natural zeolite. Adsorption of both compounds is studied in a binary component system and the results are compared with that of single component. The experiment was conducted in equilibrium batch system at various temperature and various ratio of solution to solid. Competition effect was studied by adding a certain volume of aqueous solution containing certain concentrations of phenol and para chloro phenol (PCP) (1:1) into certain amount of zeolite. The mixture was then agitated and kept at certain temperature. It is indicated that adsorption capacity of zeolite for phenol at binary component system is much lower than that at single component system. This is in contrast to the capacity for PCP, which shows higher at binary component system. Adsorption capacity for phenol and PCP at binary component system increases by increasing the temperature (30-40 degreesC). It is indicated that chlorophenol was the preference compound to be adsorbed compared with phenol. The Langmuir competitive model describes quite well such a binary component adsorption.