Removal of phenol from aqueous solution using carbonized Terminalia chebula-activated carbon: process parametric optimization using conventional method and Taguchi’s experimental design, adsorption kinetic, equilibrium and thermodynamic study

In the present paper, the phenol removal from wastewater was investigated using agri-based adsorbent: Terminalia chebula-activated carbon (TCAC) produced by carbonization of Terminalia chebula (TC) in air-controlled atmosphere at 600 °C for 4 h. The surface area of TCAC was measured as 364 m2/g using BET method. The surface characteristic of TCAC was analyzed based on the value of point of zero charge. The effect of parameters such as TCAC dosage, pH, initial concentration of phenol, time of contact and temperature on the sorption of phenol by TCAC was investigated using conventional method and Taguchi experimental design. The total adsorption capacity of phenol was obtained as 36.77 mg/g using Langmuir model at the temperature of 30 °C at pH = 5.5. The maximum removal of phenol (294.86 mg/g) was obtained using Taguchi’s method. The equilibrium study of phenol on TCAC showed that experimental data fitted well to R–P model. The results also showed that kinetic data were followed more closely the pseudo-first-order model. The results of thermodynamic study showed that the adsorption of phenol on TCAC was spontaneous and an exothermic in nature.