Adsorption of dissolved organic matter from landfill leachate using activated carbon prepared from sewage sludge and cabbage by ZnCl2

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2020-02, Vol.27 (5), p.4891-4904
• Main Authors: Zeng, Fan, Liao, Xiaofeng, Pan, Danping, Shi, Huangang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Activated sludge; Adsorbents; Adsorption; Alkanes; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Brassica; Brassica oleracea; Carbon; Chemical oxygen demand; Dissolved organic matter; Dosage; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Fluorescence; Fluorescence spectroscopy; Gas chromatography; High temperature; Humic acids; Iodine; Landfill; Landfills; Leachates; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Organic chemistry; Organic compounds; pH effects; Pore size; Porosity; Research Article; Sewage sludge; Sludge; Waste disposal sites; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Zinc chloride
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-019-07233-0

Sewage sludge and cabbage ( Brassica oleracea ) were used to prepare activated carbon by high-temperature inert carbonization with the activator ZnCl 2 . The physicochemical characteristics of the sludge-based activated carbon (SAC) were analyzed, and the effects on the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from the landfill leachate by the adsorbent dosage, adsorption time, and the solution pH were investigated in different adsorbents. Three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to analyze the organic compounds in the leachate before and after adsorption. The results demonstrated that the average iodine content of the SAC was 535.01 mg/g. The average specific surface area was 917.72 m 2 /g, and the dominant pore size was in the mesoporous range. The optimum parameters for adsorption were a dosage of 3%, adsorption time of 60 min, and pH = 8, and the COD removal rate reached 85.61%. The adsorption of COD on the SAC was best fitted by the Freundlich model. Additionally, the SAC was found to have a high removal efficiency for refractory organic matter and short-chain alkanes, such as humic acid-like substances, in the leachate but was not effective for long-chain alkanes.