A Comparative Study on Adsorption Characteristics of Total Nitrogen and Phosphorous in Water Using Various Adsorbents

The present study is to explore the possibility of utilizing loess and fly ash as well as activated carbon for the adsorptive removal of T-N and T-P in water. Here, we investigated adsorption efficiency and Freundlich constants k and 1/n of each adsorbent. It was found that fly ash has not adsorptive capability for both T-N and T-P in water. Adsorption of T-N from water by loess has not occurred, but showed that adsorption efficiency for T-P reached approximately 57.5% at equilibrium time of 24 hr and room temperature. Activated carbon was shown to be an effective adsorbent for adsorption of T-N from water. Freundlich constant 1/n value of activated carbon represented that adsorptive capability of activated carbon is almost equivalent to loess.