REMOVAL OF LINDANE AND MALATHION FROM WASTEWATER BY ACTIVATED CARBON PREPARED FROM APRICOT STONE

The powdered activated carbon, obtained from the apricot stone, has been used as inexpensive and effective adsorbent for the removal of lindane and malathion from wastewater. Apricot stones were treated with H 3PO 4 (1:1) then carbonized at 500ºC for 3h. The ability of the powdered activated carbon to remove lindane and malathion from wastewater by adsorption was investigated. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted to observe the effect of contact time, weight of sample, pH, volume of an aqueous to mass of powdered activated carbon and concentration of studied pesticides on activated carbon. Equilibrium experiments results show that adsorption isotherms for lindane and malathion fit well to the Freundlich model.