Reduction of Organics in Dairy Wastewater by Adsorption on a Prepared Charcoal from Iraqi Sugarcane

Abstract

Abstract The prepared charcoal from Iraqi sugarcane was used to reduce the high organic content in dairy wastewater. The Iraqi sugarcane was washed and cut to the size of 1 to 1.5 cm length, then placed in a stainless-steel reactor in an electrical furnace. After 2 hours at 400°C the produced charcoal was collected and weight. The prepared charcoal with particle size less than 500 μm has 213.52 m2/g surface area and 1.2824 mL/g pore volume. The performance of organics adsorption on the surface of the prepared charcoal was studied. The amount of organic reduction, expressed as dropping in chemical oxygen demand (COD), was measured initially (6948 mg/L) and at equilibrium to identify the adsorption isotherm. Adsorption isotherms of organics was consistent with Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The kinetics results of the adsorption show the process follow the pseudo-second order kinetic in different operating temperatures (15, 25, 35, and 45°C). The obtained thermodynamic parameters (ΔG, ΔH and ΔS) were valuable to prove the spontaneity of the adsorption process.