Chemical Science & Engineering Research
Title
Adsorption of Phenol from Wastewater using Copper Oxide Supported on Activated Carbon Obtained from Coal: Thermodynamics and Kinetics Studies
Authors
Shehu Z.,a Danbature W. L.,*a Magaji B.,a Yakubu Y.S.a and Balarak D.b
aChemistry Department, Faculty of Science Gombe State University, Nigeria.
bDepartment of Environmental Health, Health Promotion Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
*Corresponding author E-mail address: wldanbature@mail.com (Danbature W. L.)
Article History
Publication details: Received: 23th April 2021; Revised: 26th June 2021; Accepted: 26th June 2021; Published: 31st July 2021
Cite this article
Shehu Z.; Danbature W. L.; Magaji B. Yakubu Y.S.; Balarak D. Adsorption of Phenol from Wastewater using Copper Oxide Supported on Activated Carbon Obtained from Coal: Thermodynamics and Kinetics Studies. Chem. Sci. Eng. Res., 2021, 3(7), 16-23.
Abstract
AC/CuO nanocomposite was synthesized using one pot procedure by using coal, Cupper (I) chloride as precursor for CuO and NaOH as precipitating and activating agents. The formation of AC/CuO nanocomposite was characterized and confirmed using UV -Visible spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The nanocomposite was used as an adsorbent for adsorption of phenol, and residual concentration was measured at a wavelength of 350 nm using UV -Visible spectrophotometer (model 6705). The effect of various parameters such as adsorbent dose, contact time, initial concentration, temperature and pH were investigated. AC-CuO nanocomposite adsorbent removed 99.995% of the phenol at optimum conditions of adsorbent dose: 0.1 g, contact time: 30 minutes, initial phenol concentration: 50 mg/L, temperature: 323K (50oC) and pH: 4. Gibbs free energy values for phenol adsorption were found to be 54.76, 56.57, 58.38, 60.19 and 62.00 kJ/mole at the temperature of 303, 313, 323, 333 and 343 K respectively. The positive values for Gibbs free energy indicate that the adsorption of Phenol on AC/CuO nanocomposite is non-spontaneous. The enthalpy and entropy change were found to be -0.0804 kJ/mole and -181.004 J/Kmole respectively. The negative value of enthalpy change indicates that the adsorption process is exothermic whereas the negative value for entropy change indicates decrease in randomness between Phenol- AC/CuO nanocomposite interfaces. Also, the adsorption process was found to follow pseudo-second order kinetic.
Keywords
Adsorption; Coal; Copper oxide Supported Activated Carbon; Kinetics; Phenol; Thermodynamics; Wastewater
