title: Phenol Removal from Aqueous Environment by Adsorption onto Pomegranate Peel Carbon.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Phenol and its derivatives are the most common poisonous compounds which are stable in aqueous media and lead to many health issues. In this study, application of the carbon resulted from pomegranate peel is investigated in removal of phenol by adsorption method.
  
  
  METHODS
  to perform this cross-sectional study, first, samples of phenol with concentrations of 10 to 100 mg/L were prepared for six months in 2016. Then, the impacts of parameters such as pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, and initial concentration of phenol in adsorption process were investigated independently in Gonabad Chemistry Lab using a spectrophotometer at 505 nm as the wavelength. Furthermore, adherence of the samples to the isotherm models of Langmuir and Freundlich was determined by Excel 2016 and descriptive statistical methods were then reported.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The obtained results demonstrated a maximum adsorption capacity (ash) of 148.38 mgg-1 at pH 7, initial concentration of 100 mg L-1, and temperature of 23 ± 2 °C. The phenol removal rate was found to correlate directly to the adsorbent dosage and contact time, and inversely to the initial concentration of phenol. In addition, the investigations showed that the adsorption of phenol on the pomegranate peel ash follows the Freundlich model well with a correlation coefficient of R2 0.9056.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pomegranate peel ash could be used as an efficient and low-cost adsorbent for phenol removal from aqueous media.
authors.affiliation: Ph.D. of Environmental Health, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Social Development & Health Promotion Research Center, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Afsharnia
authors.affiliation: M.Sc. of Environmental Health, Instructor, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Torbat Heydarieh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydarieh, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saeidi
authors.affiliation: M.Sc. of Environmental Health, Senior Lecturer, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Mashhad University of Medical Science, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Amin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zarei
authors.affiliation: M.Sc. of Environmental Health, Senior Lecturer, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Iranshar University of Medical Sciences, Iranshar, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Narooie
authors.affiliation: M.Sc. of Environmental Health, Senior Lecturer, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Social Development & Health Promotion Research Center, Gonabad University of Medical Science, Gonabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Biglari
keywords: Activated carbon; Adsorption; Aqueous solution; Freundlich; Langmuir isotherm; Pomegranate peel