Adsorptive Removal of Acrylonitrile using Powder Activated Carbon

Abstract

In the present work, acrylonitrile (AN) removal from wastewater was investigated using powdered activated carbon (PAC). The effect of dose, temperature and time of contact was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM) keeping AN concentration 100 mg/l as fixed input parameter. The experimental plan was based on Box–Behnken surface statistical design. Linear and quadratic polynomial equations were developed for proper process parametric study for its optimal performance characteristics. The optimum conditions obtained were: adsorbent dose = 25 g/l, temperature = 30 and contact time = 20 min. The AN removal at optimum conditions was 92±0.8%. The experimental results under optimum conditions were compared with the simulated values obtained from the model. There was good agreement between the experimental and simulated values. The result of Box–Behnken design indicates that the proposed models predict the responses adequately within the limits of input parameters being used. It is suggested that regression equations can be used to find optimum conditions for AN removal.