Performance Evaluation of Waste Activated Carbon on Atrazine Removal from Contaminated Water

Abstract

In this study, the potential of spent activated carbon from water purifier (Aqua Guard, India) for the removal of atrazine (2 chloro-4 ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-1, 3, 5 triazine) from wastewaters was evaluated. Different grades of spent activated carbon were prepared by various pretreatments. Based on kinetic and equilibrium study results, spent activated carbon with a grain size of 0.3-0.5 mm and washed with distilled water (designated as WAC) was selected for fixed column studies. Batch adsorption equilibrium data followed both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm. Fixed bed adsorption column with spent activated carbon as adsorbent was used as a polishing unit for the removal of atrazine from the effluent of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating atrazine bearing domestic wastewater. Growth of bacteria on the surface of WAC was observed during column study and bacterial activity enhanced the effectiveness of adsorbent on atrazine removal from wastewater.

Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] removal by acid modified waste activated carbons

“…However, high cost of activated carbon encourages using of low cost and/or waste materials as adsorbent for various pollutant removals from aqueous environment [22][23][24][25][26][27]. It has been reported that surface modification with suitable chemicals and impregnation techniques not only increase adsorption capacity but also add selectivity to carbon [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35].…”

Giant magnetoresistance behavior of an iron/carbonized polyurethane nanocomposite

“…However, a 2 % MR observed at 4 kOe still indicates that this GMR sensor could be used for biological targeting application. 23 An initial adsorption test shows that the heat-treated nanocomposite has a fairly high porosity adsorbing about 7 wt% of argon; indicating that this composite can be used for water distillation, 24 as well as for tail gas catalysis or hydrogen storage 25 for fuel cell applications.…”

Environmental significance of atrazine in aqueous systems and its removal by biological processes: an overview

“…Studies conducted to enhance the degradation rate by addition of readily biodegradable organic amendments showed that, although acetic acid enhanced the biotransformation from the parent compounds to hydroxyatrazine, only glucose improved the removal rate of the triazine species [95]. Ghosh and Philip [101] observed the effects of external carbon source on atrazine degradation by mixed culture anaerobic bacteria. In co-metabolic process (dextrose was the primary source of carbon and energy), there is certain ratio of primary substrate and the toxic compound, at which the degradation of atrazine was the maximum.…”

“…Studies on atrazine adsorption on iron oxides [99], quartz, calcite, kaolinite and α-alumina [100] showed that only kaolinite was suitable for the adsorption of atrazine. It has been reported that waste activated carbon (WAC) from tap water purifier can be used for post treatment of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor effluent [101].…”