Adsorptive removal of phenol by bagasse fly ash and activated carbon: Equilibrium, kinetics and thermodynamics

Present study deals with the adsorption of phenol on carbon rich bagasse fly ash (BFA) and activated carbon-commercial grade (ACC) and laboratory grade (ACL). BFA is a solid waste obtained from the particulate collection equipment attached to the flue gas line of the bagasse-fired boilers of cane sugar mills. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the influences of various experimental parameters like initial pH (pH0), contact time, adsorbent dose and initial concentration (C0) on the removal of phenol. C0 varied from 75 to 300 mg/l for the adsorption isotherm studies and the effect of temperature on adsorption. Optimum conditions for phenol removal were found to be pH0 ≈ 6.5, adsorbent dose ≈10 g/l of solution and equilibrium time ≈5 h. Adsorption of phenol followed pseudo-second order kinetics with the initial sorption rate for adsorption on ACL being the highest followed by those on BFA and ACC. The effective diffusion coefficient of phenol is of the order of 10−10 m2/s. Equilibrium isotherms for the adsorption of phenol on BFA, ACC and ACL were analysed by Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin, Redlich–Peterson, Radke–Prausnitz and Toth isotherm models using non-linear regression technique. Redlich–Peterson isotherm was found to best represent the data for phenol adsorption on all the adsorbents. The change in entropy (ΔS°) and heat of adsorption (ΔH°) for phenol adsorption on BFA were estimated as 1.8 MJ/kg K and 0.5 MJ/kg, respectively. The high negative value of change in Gibbs free energy (ΔG°) indicates the feasible and spontaneous adsorption of phenol on BFA. The values of isosteric heat of adsorption varied with the surface loading of phenol.