Sorption of phenol from aqueous solution using chicken feathers

Abstract

Concern is growing over the contamination of the water environments with organic pollutants, such as phenolic compounds because of their adverse effects on health and environment. In these studies, the ability to remove phenol from aqueous solution has been achieved using chicken feathers as an adsorbent. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the effects of process parameters such as initial concentration, contact time, adsorbent dosage, and temperature. Adsorption capacity for the adsorbent was dependent on the temperature since an increase in phenol removal efficiency with an increase in temperature was observed. Results have shown that an increase in the amount of adsorbent was followed by increased efficiency in phenol removal owing to a corresponding increase in adsorption sites. The equilibrium time for phenol removal was found to be 24 h. The experimental data were well represented by the Freundlich (R2 = 0.9869) and the Langmuir (R2 = 0.9997) isotherm models with data slightly better fitted to the Langmuir than the Freundlich isotherm model. The maximum sorption capacity was found to be 16.5 mg/g at 30°C and pH 8. Chicken feathers, an inexpensive and easily available material, can be an alternative to more costly adsorbents used for the removal of phenol from wastewater.