Comparison of Adsorptive Removal of Total Nitrogen (T-N) and Total Phosphorous (T-P) in Aqueous Solution using Granular Activated Charcoal (GAC)

Abstract

The present study is to explore the possibility of utilizing granular activated charcoal (GAC) for the removal of total phosphorous (T-P) and total nitrogen (T-N) in aqueous solution. Batch adsorption studies were carried out to determine the influences of various factors like initial concentration, contact time and temperature. The adsorption data showed that GAC has a similar adsorption capacity for both T-N and T-P. The adsorption degree of T-N and T-P on GAC was highly concentration dependent. It was found that the adsorption capacity of GAC is quite favorable at a low concentration. At concentrations of 1.0 mg L^-1 of T-P and 2.0 mg L^-1 of T-N, approximately 97 % of adsorption was achieved by GAC. The equilibrium data were fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm model. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model appeared to be the better-fitting model because it has higher R² compared with the pseudo-first-order and intra-particle kinetic model. The theoretical adsorption equilibrium q_e,cal from pseudo-second-order kinetic model were relatively similar to the experimental adsorption equilibrium q_e,exp. To evaluate the effect of thermodynamic parameters at different temperatures, the change in free energy ΔG, the enthalpy ΔH and the entropy ΔS were estimated. Except for adsorption of T-P at 278 K, the ΔG values obtained were all negative at the investigated temperatures. It indicates that the present adsorption system occurs spontaneously. The adsorption process of T-N by GAC was exothermic in nature, whereas T-P showed endothermic behavior. In addition, the positive values of ΔS imply that there was the increase in the randomness of adsorption of T-N and T-P at GAC-solution interface.