Efficiency of activated carbon adsorption in removal of selected pharmaceuticals from water

• Main Author: Wang, Xiao Yi
• Other Authors: Tan Soon Keat
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64427
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study presents adsorption performance for caffeine and salicylic acid using granular activated carbon (GAC) and various powdered activated carbons (PAC) namely Hydrodarco C, NRS EA 0.5-1.5, SAE 2 and SAE Super. It was found that for caffeine SAE Super outperformed the rest with much higher removal efficiencies. The data fit well to Langmuir isotherm model. As for salicylic acid, desorption occurred when using GAC and SAE 2, resulting in a less efficient adsorption performance. NRS carbon and SAE Super were better adsorbents for salicylic acid in terms of final total removal amount. Freundlich model gave a slightly better fit in the case of salicylic acid. The adsorption kinetics for all the activated carbons could be better explained by the second-order kinetic model. Although the performance of activated carbons demonstrated somewhat different characteristics toward the two pharmaceuticals, SAE Super can be recommended for its better overall performance compared to the others.