Organic Pollutants Adsorption Onto Granular Activated Carbon

The industry uses benzene as a solvent and raw material for organic synthesis and therefore occurs in releases, phenol is also likely to exist in water of industrial origin, it oxidizes with difficulty, adsorbs little and filter weakly. Cyclohexanol is amphoteric (donor and proton acceptor), it was chosen to make comparisons. In the present work, the granular activated carbon chosen was characterized by different methods. The kinetic adsorption study, in the liquid phase, was conducted using adsorbed quantity - square root of the contact time to elucidate the diffusion of these molecules through the liquid film to the superficial sites of the surface of the solid, which allowed us to understand the influence of some physicochemical properties and the structure of choices molecules on the phenomenon of elimination of pollutants. The results obtained illustrate the competitiveness and adsorption specificity of the molecules as a function of the structure, the grouping, the affinity towards the solid and the porosity of the surface of the latter. The results showed that the molecules chosen are preferentially physisorbed, although some chemisorption can be detected. We have been able to measure the surface tensions by the method of tearing off the ring in order to reach the surface occupied by each of the molecules at the level of the surface of the coal. In this study we assume that the external resistance to mass transfer from the liquid to the surface can be neglected as a control step.