Comparison of activated carbon and low-cost adsorbents for removal of 2,4-dichlorophenol from wastewater using Aspen Adsorption and response surface methodology

Hassnain A Yasir; Sharif H Zein; Mathew C Holliday; Khalaf J Jabbar; Usama Ahmed; A A Jalil

doi:10.1080/09593330.2023.2202829

Comparison of activated carbon and low-cost adsorbents for removal of 2,4-dichlorophenol from wastewater using Aspen Adsorption and response surface methodology

Environ Technol. 2023 Apr 27:1-19. doi: 10.1080/09593330.2023.2202829. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Hassnain A Yasir¹, Sharif H Zein¹, Mathew C Holliday^{1

2}, Khalaf J Jabbar¹, Usama Ahmed^{3

4}, A A Jalil^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Hull, Kingston Upon Hull, UK.
² Energy and Environment Institute, University of Hull, Kingston Upon Hull, UK.
³ Chemical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Interdisciplinary Research Center for Hydrogen and Energy Storage, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Center of Hydrogen Energy, Institute of Future Energy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
⁶ Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.

PMID: 37057364
DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2023.2202829

Abstract

In this paper, the adsorption of the chlorinated organic compound, 2,4-dichlorophenol, using activated carbon (AC), bagasse fly ash (BFA) and rice husk fly ash (RHFA) in a packed bed column was simulated using Aspen Adsorption software. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of simulation software for identifying alternative low-cost adsorbents and optimising the adsorption process. The effect of process parameters such as initial concentration, bed height and inlet feed flow rate were evaluated using breakthrough curves. It was shown that the longest breakthrough times were at a higher bed height of 3 m and lower flow rate of 2 m³/hr and concentration had no effect on breakthrough time. After optimisation using response surface methodology, the AC, BFA and RHFA had a breakthrough time of 534, 426 and 209 s, respectively. This shows the potential of BFA as a potential alternative for AC for the adsorption of 2,4-dichlorophenol and shows RHFA to be a relatively poor adsorbent in comparison. The economic evaluation illustrates that the overall cost of wastewater treatment with BFA and RHFA is lower than AC. The cost for the BFA and RHFA adsorbents is only a handling charge, but the cost for using AC adsorbent is £10,603/year. Therefore, the company can produce 17,520 m³/year of fresh water from the adsorbent and save £87,600/year. Therefore, it was concluded that BFA had a slightly weaker adsorption efficiency than AC but was more cost effective, allowing it to be more affordable and increasing its availability.

Keywords: Biomass; bagasse fly ash; capital expenditure (CAPEX); operation expenditure (OPEX); rice husk fly ash economic evaluation breakthrough time.