Comparative Studies on Nitrophenol Removal by Adsorption and Simultaneous Adsorption-Biodegradation Processes

In this paper, it was aimed to study the removal of 4-nitrophenol (NP) from aqueous solution by adsorption using granular activated carbon (GAC); and in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) without any adsorbent (blank-SBR) and with an SBR loaded with GAC (GAC-SBR). During adsorption study with GAC, effect of pH, adsorbent dose (m) and contact time (t) were studied. Adsorption isotherm, kinetic and thermodynamic parameters were determined. During NP removal in SBR, effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT), initial concentration (C-0) and m were studied. The percent removal in case of GAC-SBR was found to be greater in comparison to blank-SBR. The removal of NP from blank-SBR and GAC-SBR for C0 of 35, 65 and 100 mg/l was found to be 90.46% and 91.23% (m = 2 g/l); 52.33% and 96.05% (m = 2.5 g/l); 20.01% and 92.72% (m = 2.5 g/l), respectively.