Date of Award

6-1999

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Environmental Science

First Advisor

. Dr. Abdel Mohsen Mohamed

Second Advisor

Dr. Munjed Maraqa

Abstract

Wastewater reclamation must ensure removal of residual pollutants to a high degree so as to make the water acceptable for the designated reuse. There has been a growing interest worldwide to employ cost-effective treatment methods for polishing secondary treatment wastewater effluents. Carbon adsorption has proved to be an effective method for effluent polishing but treatment costs are relatively high.

AI-Ain wastewater treatment plant at Zakher has a design capacity of 54,000 m3/day and incorporates preliminary treatment, followed by extended aeration and dual-media filtration for effluent polishing before water reuse in irrigation. The chemical quality of the treated effluent produced at Zakher treatment plant has yet to be determined. Of primary importance are the trace organic contaminants (e.g. phenols) that adversely affect the effluent quality and suitability for reuse. After the chemical contaminants are quantitatively identified it is essential to determine adequate methods for further polishing of the effluent by utilizing locally available adsorbents. For this purpose, Palm Date Kernel Activated Carbon (PDKAC), a locally made adsorbent, has been used for the adsorption of compounds (phenol, aniline, and methylene blue) in batch tests at 25°C and adsorbent particle size ≤ 75 µm.

This must be investigated and the results of this study can be helpful in developing an economically viable method for removal of residual pollutants from wastewater effluents. If recommended water quality standards can be met, the treated water can be utilized for other municipal, industrial and agricultural purposes.

The removal of trace contaminants from wastewater effluent using local adsorbents has been investigated using adsorption techniques. The experimental results have indicated that the PDKAC has high selectivity for adsorbing phenol > aniline > methylene blue. The experimental isotherm data were fitted by both Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. The results revealed the potential use of PDKAC as a low-cost adsorbent.

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