REMOVAL OF PHENOL FROM THE AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS BY ADSORPTION ONTO ACTIVATED CARBON DERIVED FROM KAPOK (CEIBA PENTANDRA) HULL

Phenols are one of the most toxic industrial pollutants and even at low concentration it is reported to affect water quality and is harmful to human health. For that reason, much interest has been seen to produce material for treating effluent from industry using natural resources and comes from cheaper raw materials. The objective of this research is to contribute in the search for less expensive adsorbents and their utilization possibilities for agriculture waste by-products such as kapok hull, for the elimination of phenol from aqueous solution. Malaysian kapok hull (KH) can be processed as a precursor to produce activated carbon and has a potential to remove organic compounds such as phenol in wastewater. For this research, activated carbon prepared from Kapok hull using chemical activation (impregnated by 1M NaOH and thermally treated at 550°C) is applied. Isotherm studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of pH (2-10) and initial phenol concentration (25-200 mg/L). Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and FTIR are used to study the pore structure and functional groups obtained of the active carbons respectively whereas UV-Vis Spectrophotometer is used to determine the adsorption capacity of the activated carbon towards organic pollutant. As the concentration of adsorbate increases, adsorption capacity increases. The adsorbent exhibited good sorption potential at pH range of (3-7).