Ammonia Removal using Organic Acid Modified Activated Carbon from Landfill Leachate

This study was conducted to enhance the ability of activated carbon to remove ammonia by modifying its surface as ion exchanger. The study involved the determination of the capabilities of modified activated carbon to remove ammonia from leachate using fixed bed column. Adsorption capability was determined based on the percentage of ammonia removal. Thomas and Yoon and Nelson models were used to determine the adsorption capacity for both modified and bare activated carbon. Results indicated that modified activated carbon has higher removal ability for ammonia with the maximum removal up to 94.30% compared to bare activated carbon with maximum removal of 64.05%. Based on Yoon and Nelson model, the maximum capacity value, qo was found to be 3.063 mg/g using modified activated carbon which is higher than bare activated carbon with the value of 1.478 mg/g. It can be concluded that the modified activated carbon has a higher ion-exchange capacity for removing ammonia removal compared to bare activated carbon.