Synthesis of Activated Carbon from Prosopis Juliflora Wood for the Removal of Phosphate from Municipal Wastewater

Abstract

Surface water contamination with phosphate ions is resulting in eutrophication. The adsorption of phosphate from wastewater by activated carbon prepared from highly available carbonaceous natural plant biomass is one of the successful methods. Prosopis Juliflora is one of the massive invaded weeds in the Kessem Sugar Factory state that highly reduces productivity. Preparing activated carbon from PJ biomass by impregnation using chemical reagents is one of the mechanisms to control the distribution and limit the effect. Samples from the infested sugarcane field at KSM were collected, chopped, and ground. It was then impregnated for 24 hours at a 1:1 ratio with potassium hydroxide in water, oven dried for 24 hours, and pyrolyzed for two hours at 400, 500, and 600 at a heat rate of 10 /m to produce PJAC, which was then labeled (KPJAC400, KPJAC500, and KPJAC600). X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller were used to characterize the sensitized activated carbon. The prepared activated carbon's surface area is 547.127 m2/g. Using batch adsorption techniques, the KPJAC500 adsorbent's performance in phosphate removal was evaluated, and the effects of several factors such as temperature, adsorbent dose, initial phosphate concentration, contact time, and solution pH were examined. According to the results, the adsorption effectiveness is optimal at pH 4, an adsorbent dosage of 4 g/L, a 180-minute contact period, and a 25 mg/L starting phosphate concentration at 30 . Applying optimized parameters, the kinetic and adsorption isotherm models were studied. In addition, the effect of interfering ions and the efficiency of the regeneration of the adsorbent were determined. The maximum phosphate removal efficiency of the adsorbent in optimal circumstances from aqueous solutions and wastewater was 84.6% and 52.3%, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of activated carbon in the optimal situation was obtained to be 10.6 mg/g. From the tested adsorption isothermal model, the Langmuir model was investigated to be the best fit, and from the kinetics of the adsorption process models, pseudo-second-order kinetics fit well. The interfering ions evaluation results show that the phosphate adsorption efficiency was affected by ions. In the present study, the elution results showed that reusing an adsorbent to remove phosphate from an aqueous solution was promising