Water Hyacinth (Eichornia Crassipes) as an Effective Biosorbent for sorption of Phenol

Abstract

In present paper the sorption of phenol using low-cost water hyacinth activated carbon (WHAC) has been presented. The effect of various parameters such as pH, biosorbent dose, temperature, initial phenol concentration and contact time were studied and optimized. The optimum biosorbent dosage, equilibrium contact time, and pH were found to be 5 g/l, 350 min, and 6 respectively. The entropy change and heat of sorption for phenol-WHAC system were estimated as 40.85 kJ/mol K and -27.81 kJ/mol, respectively. The sorption of phenol onto WHAC was found to be exothermic in nature. The negative value of Gibbs free energy indicates the spontaneousity nature of phenol sorption onto WHAC.