A comparative adsorption/biosorption of phenol to granular activated carbon and immobilized activated sludge in a continuous packed bed reactor

The potential use of Mowital B30H resin immobilized dried activated sludge as a substitute for granular activated carbon for removing phenol from aqueous solution was examined in a continuous packed bed reactor as a function of flow rate and inlet phenol concentration. The working sorption pH value was determined as 1.0 for both the sorbents, and packed bed sorption studies were performed at this pH value. The maximum specific uptakes, total adsorbed quantities, and total removals of phenol related to the effluent volumes were determined by evaluating the breakthrough curves obtained at different flow rates and different inlet phenol concentrations for each sorbent. At the lowest flow rate of 0.8 mL/min and at the inlet phenol concentration of 500 mg/L, the maximum specific uptakes and total removals of phenol were 84.0 mg/g and 27.6%, respectively, for granular activated carbon and 9.0 mg/g and 9.3%, respectively, for immobilized dried activated sludge. Data confirmed that total removals of phenol decreased with increasing flow rate and inlet phenol concentration for both immobilized dried activated sludge and granular activated carbon systems.