Dynamic simulation of lead(II) metal adsorption from water on activated carbons in a packed-bed column

In this work, lead(II) adsorption on activated carbons, tire-derived activated carbon (TAC), and commercial activated carbon (CAC), in a packed-bed column, was simulated using the Aspen Adsorption® V11 flowsheet simulator. The simulator was used to model the fixed-bed adsorption column and to establish the breakthrough curves by varying the initial concentration of lead(II) ions (500 mg/L, 1000 mg/L, 2000 mg/L, and 3000 mg/L), the bed height (0.2 m, 0.3 m, 0.4 m, 0.5 m, and 0.6 m), and the flow rate (9.88 × 10−4 m3/s, 1.98 × 10−3 m3/s, 2.96 × 10−3 m3/s, 3.95 × 10−3 m3/s, and 4.94 × 10−3 m3/s), at constant temperature and pressure of 25 °C and 3 bar, respectively. At the optimum conditions of 500 mg/L lead(II) concentration, 0.6 m bed height, and 9.88 × 10−4 m3/s flow rate, the breakthrough times were 488 s and 23 s for TAC and CAC, respectively. Under the same conditions, the adsorption capacity obtained at t0.5 was 114.26 mg/g for TAC and 7.72 mg/g for CAC. The simulation results indicate the potential of TAC for the adsorption of lead(II) in comparison to CAC.