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Insight into preparation of activated carbon towards defluoridation of waste water: Optimization, kinetics, equilibrium, and cost estimation
Author(s) -
Palodkar Avinash V.,
Anupam Kumar,
Banerjee Soumya,
Halder Gopinath
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
environmental progress and sustainable energy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.495
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1944-7450
pISSN - 1944-7442
DOI - 10.1002/ep.12613
Subject(s) - activated carbon , adsorption , fluoride , microporous material , freundlich equation , carbonization , sorption , phosphoric acid , wastewater , langmuir , chemistry , langmuir adsorption model , chemical engineering , central composite design , nuclear chemistry , materials science , inorganic chemistry , response surface methodology , waste management , chromatography , organic chemistry , engineering
The present investigation highlights the optimization of preparation conditions of activated carbon developed from Cocos nucifera towards fluoride removal from wastewater. Activated carbon was prepared through chemical activation using phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ). Central composite design (CCD) was used to examine the effect of three variables: H 3 PO 4 concentration, carbonization temperature and time on the three responses: surface area, micropore volume and fluoride adsorption capacity. Activated carbon prepared under optimized conditions possessed a surface area of 941.45 m 2 g −1 and micropore volume of 0.401 cm 3 g −1 . It was characterized by FTIR and SEM. The fluoride removal process was further investigated by studying the effect of pH, temperature, initial fluoride concentration, time, adsorbent dose and agitation speed. The maximum removal of fluoride was found to be 94.4%. The adsorption equilibrium data well fitted into Langmuir isotherm in comparison to Freundlich isotherm. Kinetic study revealed that the surface adsorption as well as intraparticle diffusion is the rate limiting step for fluoride sorption onto adsorbent. The low cost incurred in its production signifies its commercial exploitation as adsorbent. Therefore, the activated carbon prepared statistically from Cocus nucifera could be employed as an effective tool for fluoride adsorption from wastewater. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 1597–1611, 2017