MOFIZUR RAHMAN1, MD. RAIHAN CHOWDHURY2, SURIA JAHAN3, MD. RAKIB UDDIN4 and AHMAD ISMAIL MUSTAFA5
1=Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Dhaka. Email: mofizndc@yahoo.com, 2Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka. Email: mcraihan@gmail.com, 3Department of Pharmacy, Jahangirnagar University. Email: suriyapharma_2006@yahoo.com, 4Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Dhaka. Email: rakibuddin.md@gmail.com and 5Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Email: mustafa@du.bangla.net.
ABSTRACT
An examination of adsorption of phenol and phenolic compound on Rice Straw is followed by a critical assessment of low-cost adsorbents. Experiments have been conducted to examine the adsorption of phenol and phenolic compounds from industrial effluent by using agricultural wastes on Rice Straw and were carried out for the analysis of adsorption equilibrium capacities using a batch equilibrium technique. Batch adsorption isotherm studies were carried out under varying experimental conditions of contact time, operational temperature, adsorbent dose, initial phenol concentration, particle size and pH of phenol solution. Adsorption equilibrium of Rice Straw was reached within 3 hour for phenol concentration 500μg/L. Kinetics of adsorption obeyed a first-order rate equation. The suitability of the Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models to the equilibrium data were investigated for phenol-sorbent system. The results showed that the equilibrium data for all the phenol-sorbent systems fitted the Freundlich model and Langmuir modal within the concentration range studied. 83.2% removal of phenol were achieved at given adsorption conditions from aqueous system which could be regenerated by desorption with the help of 1 M NaOH and recovered 95.30% of adsorbed phenol. This study has proven that Rice Straw is a useful agricultural waste product for the removal of phenol and phenolic compounds from aqueous system. This study was mainly conducted at the laboratory of Applied Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, University of Dhaka and partial work was done at laboratory of Analytical Research Division, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Research, during the period of December 2009 to July 2010.
Keywords: Aqueous system, Rice straw, Phenol, Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption model.