title: Equilibria and dynamics of liquid-phase trinitrotoluene adsorption on granular activated carbon: effect of temperature and pH.
abstract: Environmental regulations for removal of trinitrotoluene (TNT) from wastewater have steadily become more stringent. This study focuses on the adsorption equilibrium, kinetics, and column dynamics of TNT on heterogeneous activated carbon. Adsorption equilibrium data obtained in terms of temperature (298.15, 313.15 and 323.15K) and pH (3, 8 and 10) were correlated by the Langmuir equation. In addition, the adsorption energy distribution functions which describe heterogeneous characteristics of porous solid sorbents were calculated by using the generalized nonlinear regularization method. Adsorption breakthrough curves were studied in activated column under various operating conditions such as temperature, pH, concentration, flow rate, and column length. We found that the effect of pH on adsorption breakthrough curves was considerably higher than other operating conditions. An adsorption model was formulated by employing the surface diffusion model inside the activated carbon particles. The model equation that was solved numerically by an orthogonal collocation method successfully simulated the adsorption breakthrough curves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Seonam University, Namwon 590-711, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Wook
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Tae-Hoon
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wang-Geun
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.forename: Tae-Ouk
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Il-Shik
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Moon
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D002606:Charcoal / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014303:Trinitrotoluene / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants; D014303:Trinitrotoluene; D002606:Charcoal