ANJU MANGOTRA*, SHAILESH KUMAR SINGH1 AND ANAND MOHAN
School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144 411 (Punjab), India
*(e-mail: anju20004@gmail.com; Mobile: 89686 73268)
(Received: June 20, 2022; Accepted: July 21, 2022)
ABSTRACT
The seamless release of industrial effluents and deterioration of the physico-chemical properties of
water are becoming a prolonged threat across the world. Industrial effluents including dichloromethane
have deleterious effects on the water chemistry and make the zooplankton difficult to breathe and
furthermore affect the metabolism of aerobic aquatic species. The aim of this study was to prepare low-
cost porous coconut shell activated carbon (CSAC) and further analyze and investigate its capability to
adsorb dichloromethane. The carbonization process was carried out at a temperature of 700°C. The
activation of carbon was brought into forth by using phosphoric acid (H3PO4) as activating agent. Impregnation ratio was taken as 1 : 3 and the activation time was kept 1 h. The characterization of the resulting porous carbon was accomplished using sophisticated Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and well-refined field emission electron microscopy. Adsorption capacities and removal percentages of samples were investigated by batch studies. Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms were used for the evaluation of adsorption process. The experimental data were best fitted in the Freundlich model. Various parameters such as thermodynamics, kinetics, pH and concentration of adsorbate, dosages of adsorbent and contact time on dichloromethane adsorption were investigated. The removal of dichloromethane by CSAC was evaluated to be 87.5%. The results of this study divulged that activated carbon produced from coconut shell by chemical activation was a justifiable adsorbent for treatment of volatile organic compounds in wastewaters.
Key words : Activated carbon, coconut shell, volatile compounds, chemical activation, isotherm models