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Adsorption of hydrocarbon pollutants from wastewater using Cu‐ and Zn‐loaded activated carbon derived from waste tires

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Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy
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Waqas Ahmad at institution of Chemical Sciences
Waqas Ahmad
  • institution of Chemical Sciences
Taj Muhammad at University of Peshawar
Taj Muhammad
Imtiaz Ahmad at University of Peshawar
Imtiaz Ahmad
Mumtaz Khan
Mumtaz Khan
Mumtaz Khan
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Abstract and Figures

Petroleum refinery effluents contain hazardous aromatic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons that causes environmental degradation, that is, water, land, and air pollution; therefore, it should be properly treated before its discharge into environment. Adsorption serves an efficient route to treatment of refinery wastewater; but the high production cost and selectivity of the modern adsorbent used limits their industrial scale application. On the other hand, activated carbon due to desirable adsorption characteristics and low cost seems to hold the promise if properly modified to improve its efficiency. In this study, Cu and Zn impregnated on activated carbon (AC) derived from waste tires was used for adsorption of hydrocarbon pollutants from wastewater. AC was prepared from scrap tires through thermal pyrolysis, followed by chemical activation with KOH. Cu and Zn were loaded on AC through wet impregnation method. Initial batch mode adsorption experiments were carried out using aniline and phenol as model hydrocarbons, which indicated that maximum adsorption of aniline and phenol over Zn/AC and Cu/AC occurs in 10 min contact time, temperature 30°C, pH 6, 100 ppm initial concentration, and adsorbent dose of 0.1 g/10 mL. The removal of hydrocarbon pollutants from real refinery wastewater was also investigated under optimized conditions. Results show that the COD of the refinery wastewater decreased from 963 to 73 mg/L in case of Cu/AC (92% removal) and 78 mg/L in case of Zn/AC (91% removal), respectively. The adsorbent showed many folds reusability, and in first cycle, the removal efficiency of phenol and aniline was observed to be above 95%, whereas in second, third and fourth cycles, the removal percentage was 85%, 80%, and 70%, respectively.
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Remediation and Treatment
Adsorption of hydrocarbon pollutants from wastewater using
Cu- and Zn-loaded activated carbon derived from waste tires
Waqas Ahmad
1
| Taj Muhammad
1
| Imtiaz Ahmad
1
| Mumtaz Khan
1
|
Shahla Nazneen
2
1
Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of
Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan
2
Department of Environmental Sciences,
University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan
Correspondence
Waqas Ahmad, Institute of Chemical Sciences,
University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120,
Pakistan.
Email: waqasahmad@uop.edu.pk
Funding information
Higher Education Comission of Pakistan (HEC)
under NRPU program, Grant/Award Number:
NRPU 9056
Abstract
Petroleum refinery effluents contain hazardous aromatic and polyaromatic hydrocar-
bons that causes environmental degradation, that is, water, land, and air pollution;
therefore, it should be properly treated before its discharge into environment.
Adsorption serves an efficient route to treatment of refinery wastewater; but the
high production cost and selectivity of the modern adsorbent used limits their indus-
trial scale application. On the other hand, activated carbon due to desirable adsorp-
tion characteristics and low cost seems to hold the promise if properly modified to
improve its efficiency. In this study, Cu and Zn impregnated on activated carbon
(AC) derived from waste tires was used for adsorption of hydrocarbon pollutants
from wastewater. AC was prepared from scrap tires through thermal pyrolysis, fol-
lowed by chemical activation with KOH. Cu and Zn were loaded on AC through wet
impregnation method. Initial batch mode adsorption experiments were carried out
using aniline and phenol as model hydrocarbons, which indicated that maximum
adsorption of aniline and phenol over Zn/AC and Cu/AC occurs in 10 min contact
time, temperature 30C, pH 6, 100 ppm initial concentration, and adsorbent dose of
0.1 g/10 mL. The removal of hydrocarbon pollutants from real refinery wastewater
was also investigated under optimized conditions. Results show that the COD of the
refinery wastewater decreased from 963 to 73 mg/L in case of Cu/AC (92% removal)
and 78 mg/L in case of Zn/AC (91% removal), respectively. The adsorbent showed
many folds reusability, and in first cycle, the removal efficiency of phenol and aniline
was observed to be above 95%, whereas in second, third and fourth cycles, the
removal percentage was 85%, 80%, and 70%, respectively.
KEYWORDS
Cu/AC, hydrocarbon pollutants, refinery wastewater, waste tires-derived AC, Zn/AC
1|INTRODUCTION
Petroleum refining involves various operations like distillation, crack-
ing, polymerization, alkylation, isomerization, reforming hydrocracking,
hydrogenation, asphalt production, treating and blending, etc., and all
such process lead to cause pollution.
1
It also use large amount of fresh
water called as process water, which contains various hydrocarbons,
that is, phenol, ammonia, H
2
S, BTEX, and PAH, that in turn contami-
nates surrounding water bodies as the process water is discharged
into it.
2
Oil refinery effluents also generate enormous amount of con-
taminated or wastewater that mainly contain persistent toxins
like polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), volatile hydrocarbons, and
Received: 5 April 2023 Revised: 16 November 2023 Accepted: 24 December 2023
DOI: 10.1002/ep.14360
Environ Prog Sustainable Energy. 2024;43:e14360. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ep © 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers. 1of12
https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.14360
... Oil refineries are considered sources of pollution due to the handling of significant amounts and different forms of hydrocarbons under high-temperature conditions [31]. the air, water, and soil can be polluted in various ways. ...
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