“TREATMENT OF OIL-WATER EMULSION BY

ADSORPTION ONTO ACTIVATED CARBON”

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirement for the award of

Degree of

Bachelor of Technology

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

ANCHAL MEHRA BHAVYA SOM GARIMA JOSHI

(110180113007) (110180113014) (110180113023)

ISHA ARORA RAKHI BHATTACHARYA

(110180113031) (110180113055)

Under the supervision of:

Mr. VAIBHAV KUMAR RAI

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

B. T. KUMAON INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

DWARAHAT-263653, UTTRAKHAND (INDIA)

1
 UTTAKHAND TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY (DEHRADUN)

B.T.KUMAON INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

AN AUTONOMOUS INSTITUTE OF GOVERNMENT OF UTTARAKHAND

AFFILIATED TO UTTARAKHAND TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Chemical Engineering

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the academic minor project entitled “TREATMENT OF OIL-WATER
EMULSION BY ADSORPTION ONTO ACTIVATED CARBON” which is being
submitted by Anchal Mehra, Bhavya Som ,Garima Joshi, Isha Arora, Rakhi Bhattacharya to the
Department of Chemical Engineering ,in partial fulfillment for the award of the requirements
for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering of B.T.

Kumaon Institute of Technology , Dwarahat during the year 2014-15 is a record of

bonafide research work carried out by them under my guidance and has fulfilled the
requirements for the submission of project which is to my knowledge has reached requisite
standard.

Mr Vaibhav Kumar Rai Mr Anshuman Mishra

Supervisor Head of the Department

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks and deep gratitude to our guide Mr
Vaibhav Kumar Rai who helped us in completing this project successfully. This project and
report would not have been possible without his encouragement, co-operation and extended
support.

Our heartiest regards and thanks to Mr Vaibhav Kumar Rai for guiding and mentoring us
throughout the period of completion of our project and providing us adequate information and
expertise. We are very thankful to him for allowing us to complete our project and report under
his supervision.

Anchal Mehra

Bhavya Som

Garima Joshi

Isha Arora

Rakhi Bhattacharya

B.Tech (Chemical Engineering) 4thYr.

BTKIT Dwarahat, Uttarakhand

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 ABSTRACT

Emulsified oil in waste water constitutes is a severe problem in the different treatment stages
before disposed off in a manner that does not violate environmental criteria. Oily waste water is
waste water with oils and fats, which come from various industries in production processes.
Waste oil and any oil containing wastes have a high potential to pollute and degrade the
environment especially water and soil. As such, they represent a major environmental problem.
To protect the environment, oily waste water treatment is unavoidable.
One commonly used technique for remediation of petroleum contaminated water is adsorption.
The main objective of this study is to examine the removal of oil from oil-water emulsions by
adsorption powdered activated carbon (PAC).The results gave evidence of the ability of the
adsorbents to adsorb oil and that the adsorptive property of the adsorbent has been influenced by
different factors. The effect of contact time, the weight of adsorbent and the concentration of
adsorbate on the oil adsorption have been studied.Oil removal percentages increase with
increasing in contact time and the weight of adsorbent and decrease with increase in
concentration of adsorbate. Equillibrium study show that the Freunlich isotherm was the best fit
isotherm oil removal by powered activated carbon.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Chapter 1………………………………………………………………….9-10

1.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………9-10

2. Chapter 2………………………………………………………………….11-12

2.1 Literature review………………………………………………………….11-12

3. Chapter 3…………………………………………………………………..13-16

3.1 Adsorption and adsorption material………………………………………13-14

3.1.1 The Langmuir isotherm……………………………………………….14-15

3.1.2 The Freundlich isotherm………………………………………………15-16

4. Chapter 4…………………………………………………………………17-20

4.1 Experimental………………………………………………………………17-20

4.1.1 Adsorbent……………………………………………………………17

4.1.2 Preparation of sample……………………………………………….18

4.1.3 Adsorption procedure……………………………………………....18-19

4.1.4 Treatment of sample………………………………………………..19

4.1.5 Determination of oil content……………………………………….19-20

5. Chapter 5………………………………………………………………..21-26

5.1 Result and discussion…………………………………………………..21-24

5.1.1 Langmuir isotherm…………………………………………………26-27

5.1.2 Freundlich isotherm………………………………………………..27-28

5
6. Chapter 6……………………………………………………………….29

6.1 Conclusion……………………………………………………………..29

7.1 References………………………………………………………………30-31

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LIST OF FIGURES

1. Freundlich Isotherm……………………………………………………..15
2. Powdered Activated Carbon……………………………………………17
3. Oil Water emulsion………………………………………………………18
4. Magnetic Stirrer………………………………………………………….19
5. Methanol…………………………………………………………………20
6. Spectrophotometer……………………………………………………….20
7. Graph between time of stirring Vs final concentration in UV range…….22
8. Graph between time of stirring Vs final concentration in visible range…23
9. Graph between amount of adsorbent Vs absorbance in Visible range….24
10. Graph between amount of adsorbent Vs absorbance in UV range……..25
11. Freundlich Isotherm……………………………………………………..27
12. Langmuir Isotherm………………………………………………………28

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 LIST OF TABLE

1. Oil removal efficiency from oil water emulsion by adsorption on activated Carbon…21-22
1.1 UV range………………………………………………………………………….21
1.2 Visible range………………………………………………………………………22
2. Effect of amount of adsorbent on the adsorbance of oil……………………………....24-25
2.1 Visible range……………………………………………………………………….24
2.2 UV range………………………………………………………………………….25

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 CHAPTER-1

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Due to urbanization and industrial development, one of the most serious environmental issues are
waste oil and oily waste water. Waste oils have a complex chemical composition and contain
organic (fats, lubricants, cutting liquids, heavy hydrocarbons) tars, grease, crude oils and diesel
oil), and light hydrocarbons (kerosene, jet fuel and gasoline) and inorganic compounds, with
about 20% all the known chemical elements.

Water pollution by waste oil has left an undesired impact on the environment. Further risks to
human health may arise, e.g. the risk of skin cancer from skin contact with used motor oils,
probably due to PAHs. A proper collection and treatment as well as the mitigation of any spills
are therefore essential for the successful management of waste oil. At the same time waste oils
(and oil containing wastes) are a significant resource.

In crude oil producing operations it is often necessary to handle brine that is produced with crude
oil. This brine must be separated from the crude oil and disposed of in a manner that does not
violate environmental criteria. In offshore areas the governing regulatory body specifies the
maximum hydrocarbon content in water that is allow to b discharged overboard. The Egyptian
Environmental Law stipulates that disposed water should not contain more than 15mg/L of oil,
and this requirement is becoming more enforced as damaging environmental effects from oily
waste water become more apparent. The regulations required that non dissolved components
should be removed from waste water before disposal.

Due to hazards of oil field effluents on environment treatment is necessary before disposal.
Treatment of these effluents may result in improved oil water separation; improve water quality,
oil recovery, water reuse, protection of downstream facilities and environmental permit
compliance.

Many techniques are available for the separation of oil- water emulsion, including the variety of
filters, chemical dosing, reverse osmosis, gravity separation, ultra filtration, microfiltration,
biological processes, air floatation, membrane bioreactor, chemical coagulation,

9
electrocoagulatin and electrofloatation. One commonly used technique for removing organics
dissolved in water is the process of adsorption; which involves the separation of substances from
one phase to the surface of another. The adsorbent phase is the adsorbent and the material
concentrated or adsorbed at the surface of that phase is adsorbate. Adsorption is a natural process
by which molecules of dissolved compound collect on an adhere to the surface of an adsorbent
solid. Adsorption occurs when the attractive forces at the carbon surface overcome the attractive
forces of the liquid.

Powdered activated carbon is a particularly good adsorbent medium due to its high surface area
to volume ratio. One gram of typical commercial activated carbon will have a surface area
equivalent to 1,000 square meters.

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 CHAPTER-2

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

Removal of emulsified food and mineral oils from waste water using surfactant modified
Barley Straw: This paper was published in “ELSEVIER” on April 17, 1996 by Shariff
Ibrahim, Ha-Ming, and Shaobin Wang. According to this Barley Straw, an agricultural waste,
was chemically modified and evaluated for the removal of emulsified oil from aqueous solution.
The chemical modification was performed using NaOH and catatonic surfactant.

Removal of oil from water by Bentonite Organic Clay: This paper was published in
“AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS” on April 1, 2005 by H.Moazed and
T.Viraraghavn. Powedered Bentonite organo clay was used to remove oil from water in this
study. The oil in water emulsion used were Standard Mineral Oil (SMO).

Removal of oil droplets from water using Carbonized Rice Husk: This paper was published
in “SPRINGER” on December 23, 2014 by Kun- Yi Andrew Lin, Hongta Yang. In this
Carbonized Rice Husk (CRH) a promising material is used to separate oil from water due to its
abundance, low cost and environmentally benign characteristics. However CRH’s performance is
somewhat limited by its similar surface charge to that of oil, leading to repulsive interactions.

Oil water separation process with Organ clay: This paper was published in “ELSEVIER” on
September 1, 2014 by Lin K, Yang H., Petit C. Organ clays were prepared via ion exchange
reactions using quaternary ammonium salts. This work presents an experimental study focusing
on the preparation and characterization of modified green clay with quaternary ammonium salts
intended to be used as adsorbent in the process of removing oil emulsion in an oil water system.
Expansion tests showed that organ clay accepted a very high adsorption capacity.

Removing oil droplets from water using Copper based Metal Organic Frameworks: This
paper was published in “ELSEVIER” on August 1, 2014 by Kun-Yi Andrew Lin, Hongta Yang,

11
and Fu Kong Hsu. To recover oil during manufacturing processes or to eliminate oil pollution in
waste waters oil droplets must be separated from water. Among the current techniques for oil
removal adsorption appears to be one of the simplest. Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have
recently been proposed as adsorbents to remove contaminants from water owing to their high
surface area and versatile tenability.

Powdered activated Lemon Peels as adsorbent for removal of cutting oil from waste water:
This paper was published in “ACS PUBLICATION” on October 3, 2011 by A.R.Tembhurkar
and Radhika Deshpande. Batch adsorption studies were conducted to remove cutting oil from
waste water using activated Lemon Peels. The effects of various important parameters namely
pH, dose of adsorbent, contact time, mixing speed and initial oil concentration and their optimum
conditions for maximum sorption efficiencies were studied

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 CHAPTER-3

ADSORPTION AND ADSORBATE

Adsorption is a separation process in which gas a liquid molecules are adsorbed on the surface of
an adsorption solid. There is a variety of adsorbents. The most common are Activated Carbon,
clay, silica, alumina, and zeolite. Activated carbon is an effective adsorbent as a high surface
area, an extensively developed pore structure, a high crystalline form and mechanical strength.
An addition, activated carbon possesses good porous texture allowing the high capacity in the
removal of wide variety of organic compounds including oil from water. Removal of petroleum
hydrocarbon polluted ground water using of activated carbon was investigated, and it was
recommended that powdered activated carbon is more effective in treatment of ground water
then granular activated carbon.

The surface chemistry of carbon materials is basically determined by the acidic and basic
character of their surface and can be changed by modifying them with oxidizing agents either in
gas phase or in solution. Many methods of modifying the activated carbon surface have been
introduced chemical/physical treatment, impregnation and surface modification with surfactants.
It has also been shown that chemical modification can improve the adsorption capabilities of
activated carbon for various molecules.

Adsorption process is the adhesion of the polluting chemicals onto the surface of a solid. A wide
range of materials for water remediation have actually been employed in recent years. These
include activated carbon, Bentonite, peat, sand, coal, fiber glass, polypropylene, amberlite,
organo clay, and attapulgite.Activated carbon is an adsorbent that is commonly used in the
removal of a wide variety of organic compounds including oil from water and has proven to be
technically feasible. Remediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated ground water by the
use of activated carbon was studied, and the results reveal that powdered activated carbon is
more effective than granular activated carbon and therefore its use is recommended.

Activated carbon adsorption has been recommended by the United State Environment Protection
Agency (USEPA) as one of the best available technology (BAT) in removing organic
compounds, but it is expensive especially for developing countries.

13
The adsorption of a substance from a liquid phase to the surface of solid phase in a system leads
to a thermodynamically defined distribution of that substance between the two phases when the
system reaches equilibrium; that is when the rate of adsorption of solid onto the surface of the
adsorbent is the same as the rate of its desorption from the surface of adsorbent. Therefore there
is no further net adsorption occurs.

Several mathematical relationships have been developed to describe the equilibrium distribution
of solute between the solid and the liquid phases at a constant temperature and thus aid in the
interpretation of the adsorption processes. The most widely used models are the Langmuir and
the Freundlich isotherms.
They are useful for describing the adsorption capacity of a specific adsorbent.

1. The LANGMIUR ISOTHERM:

The Langmuir equation for solid–liquid system is commonly written as:

Qe=

where qe is the amount of adsorbate per unit weight of adsorbent (mg/g), Ce is the concentration
of adsorbate in solution at equilibrium after the adsorption is complete (mg/L), K L is the amount
of solute adsorbed/unit weight of an adsorbent in forming a complete monolayer on the surface
(mg/g), and b is the constant related to the energy or net enthalpy of adsorption.
The linear form of Langmuir expression is

= +

Therefore, a plot of Ce/qe versus Ce gives a straight line of slope b/KL and intercepts 1/KL.The
essential characteristics of the Langmuir isotherm could be expressed in terms of a dimensionless
constant, separation factor or equilibrium parameter r that is defined as follows

r= 1

1+ bC0

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Where C0 is the initial adsorbate concentration (mg/L) and b is the Langmuir constant related to
the energy of adsorption (L/mg). The value of r indicates the shape of the adsorption isotherm to
know whether adsorption is unfavourable (r >1), linear (r =1), favourable (0< r< 1), or
irreversible ((r = 0).

2. The FREUNDLICH ISOTHERM:

The Freundlich isotherm can be applied to nonideal adsorption on heterogeneous surfaces as well
as multilayer sorption and is expressed by the following equations:

qe =Kf

A linear form of this expression is:

log qe = logKf +1/n logCe

Where Kf is the Freundlich equilibrium constant which indicate the adsorptive capacity and n is
the Freundlich constant indicative of the affinity of the adsorbate for the surface of adsorbent, q e
is the amount of adsorbate per unit weight of adsorbent (mg/g), C e is the concentration of
adsorbate in solution at equilibrium after the adsorption is complete (mg/L).

15
The main objective of this study is to investigate the oil removal efficiencies of powdered
activated carbon from oil–water emulsion. Also the factors affecting their adsorptive nature
(concentration, time of stirring) have been examined. The Freundlich adsorption-isotherm and
Langmuir adsorption-isotherm models are applied and the best-fit adsorption isotherm model for
oil removal is find out.

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 CHAPTER 4

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

ADSORBENT
Powdered activated carbon of mesh size 300 and density of 0.32 g/Cm3. It was very fine powder,
passed from 300 meshes. Activated carbon is obtained by control burning out of coal or organic
matter such as animal bones or coconut shell. Activated carbon is form of carbon proceed to
have small, low volume pores that increase the surface area available for adsorption or chemical
reaction due to its high degree of micro porosity just 1gm of activated carbon has a surface area
in excess of 500 m2. Activated carbon can be used as a substrate for the application of various
chemicals to improve the adsorptive capacity. They have a certain degree of porosity and an
internal surface area in the range of 10-15m2/g .During activation, the internal surface become
more highly developed and extended by controlled oxidation of carbon atoms. One gram of
typical commercial activated carbon will have a surface area equivalent to 1,000 square meters.

Other adsorbent that can used for adsorption are Bentonite, deposited carbon. Bentonite have
mesh size 200 and density 1.15g/cm3. Deposited carbons have mesh size 300.

Fig 1: Powdered Activated Carbon

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PREPARATION OF SAMPLES

The oilfield produced waste water samples from CENTURY PAPER AND PULP INDUSTRY
were collected from the effluent (main) waste water pipe line before waste water treatment unit.
The samples were collected in glass containers and transported to the laboratory. The samples
were poured in 2 L separating funnel and left for 24 h to stabilize and separate any oil. The
samples were collected in glass containers and transported to the laboratory. The samples were
poured in 2 L separating funnel and left for 24 h to stabilize and separate any oil. Then this
sample is taken in a beaker.

Fig 2. Oil water emulsion

ADSORPTION PROCEDURE:

All experiments were carried out at ambient temperature in batch mode. Prior to each experiment
a predetermined amount of adsorbent was added to conical flask with a 30 ml of oil water

18
emulsion having the desired pH and initial concentration of oil-water emulsion and adsorption
isotherm. The amount of oil removed was determined.

TREATMENT OF SAMPLES

The stabilized oil–water emulsion samples were divided into 30 ml portions and treated with
different doses of adsorbent i.e. powdered activated carbon. The treated samples were stirred
with a magnetic stirrer (400 rpm) for different contact time intervals (0.5, 1.0, 2.0hrs). The
treated samples were filtered through filter papers. The amount of oil removed was determined.

Fig 3: Magnetic stirrer

DETERMINATION OF OIL CONTENT

Oils were extracted from the untreated and treated samples as initial oil concentration and final
oil concentration according to the standard method using methanol as a solvent. The extracted
oils were diluted and examined by ultraviolet spectrophotometer to measure the amount of oil
removed. The sample were acidified to a pH<2 by adding methanol. Emulsions were extracted
for 1min by vigorous shaking with 1ml methanol.

19
Fig 4: Methanol

Fig 5: Spectrophotometer

20
 CHAPTER 5

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Adsorption has been widely studied as an effective technique for removing oil contaminated
water. The removal efficiency is influenced by various factors such as adsorbent type, adsorbent
modifications, initial organic concentration and pH value. Batch mode adsorption experiments
are described aimed at obtaining the optimum condition for removal of the petroleum
hydrocarbon from oil-water emulsion. The characteristics of the unmodified and modified
adsorbents such as specific surface area, cation exchange capacity and point of zero charge were
determined. For preliminary studies, the extracted oils from the studied oil–water emulsion
samples were determined before and after treatment at different conditions and the results are
given. The initial oil concentration is taken 30ml and the variation of the concentration of the
adsorbent quantity with time is seen. In this we also have seen the variation of wavelength with
the adsorbent. This has been influenced by different factors including the weight of adsorbents,
time of stirring, and the concentration of the adsorbate. Different dosages of adsorbents were
used (0.1, 0.3, 0.5 g), and different time of stirring intervals were applied (0.5, 1.0, 2.0h).

S. Initial Amount Time of Wave- Final Adsorb- % of

No. Conc. Adsorbent (g) stirring length conc. -ence Conc.
(mmol) (hr) (nm) (mmol) Removed

1. 1.406 0.1 0.5 300 1.036 0.098 26.3%

2. 1.406 0.1 1.0 300 0.753 0.118 46.4%
3. 1.406 0.1 2.0 300 0.707 0.20 49.7%
Table1: oil removal efficiency from oil-water emulsion by adsorption on activated carbon (In
UV Range)

21
 GRAPH BETWEEN TIME OF STIRRING V/S FINAL CONCENTRATION (IN UV
RANGE)

S. Initial Amount of Time of Wave- Final Adsorb- % of

No. Conc. Adsorbent Stirring Length Conc. -ence Conc.
(mmol) (g) (hr) (nm) (mmol) Removed
1. 0.963 0.1 0.5 500 0.604 0.539 37.2%
2. 0.963 0.1 1.0 500 0.559 0.559 41.9%
3. 0.963 0.1 2.0 500 0.540 0.60 43.9%

Table2: oil removal efficiency from oil-water emulsion by adsorption on activated carbon (In
Visible Range)

22
 GRAPH BETWEEN TIME OF STIRRING V/S FINAL CONCENTRATION (IN
VISIBLE RANGE)

It illustrates that increasing the dosage of adsorbent led to increasing the oil removal percentage
because each adsorbent particle has to purify a certain volume of water so that a higher dosage is
required to reach the equilibrium faster than the low dosage and consequently, enough time must
be allowed for the low dosage.
In order to establish the equilibrium time for maximum uptake of oil from oil–water emulsion,
the amounts of oil adsorbed on the adsorbent were studied as a function of stirring time, which
varied from 0.5 to 2.0 h, using initial oil .These data indicated that the reasonable time for
adsorption equilibrium was 2.0 h. The relationship between the amounts of residual oil% as a
function of stirring time was shown in Fig. It is obvious that the residual concentration decreases
with increasing the stirring time until 2.0 h for adsorbent. Therefore 2.0 h was considered as a
sufficient time for the adsorption of oil from oil–water emulsion on the adsorbent under the used
operating conditions.

23
Table 3:- Effect of amount of adsorbent on the absorbance of oil in visible range

S. Initial Amount of Time of Wave- Final Adsorb- % of

No. Conc. Adsorbent Stirring Length Conc. -ance Conc.
(mmol) (g) (hr) (nm) (mmol) Removed
1. 0.963 0.1 0.5 500 0.604 0.539 37.2%
2. 0.963 0.3 0.5 500 0.559 0.559 41.9%
3. 0.963 0.5 0.5 500 0.540 0.60 43.9%

GRAPH SHOWING EFFECT OF AMOUNT OF ADSORBENT ON THE ABSORBANCE

OF OIL IN VISIBLE RANGE

24
Table 4:- Effect of amount of adsorbent on the absorbance of oil in UV range

S. Initial Amount Time of Wave- Final Adsorb- % of

No. Conc. Adsorbent (g) stirring length conc. -ance Conc.
(mmol) (hr) (nm) (mmol) Removed

1. 1.406 0.1 0.5 300 1.036 0.098 26.3%

2. 1.406 0.3 0.5 300 0.753 0.118 46.4%
3. 1.406 0.5 0.5 300 0.707 0.20 49.7%

GRAPH SHOWING EFFECT OF AMOUNT OF ADSORBENT ON THE ABSORBANCE

OF OIL IN UV RANGE

25
LANGMUIR AND FREUNDLICH ISOTHERM

The effect of initial concentration under optimized conditions (stirring time 2.0 h, and 0.5 g
adsorbent) was studied. The adsorbed oil concentration% was studied as a function of initial oil
concentration. The initial concentration of oil 0.963 and 1.406 were used for the evaluation of
their effects on adsorption. The results obtained are represented. It is clear that although the
amount of oil adsorbed per unit weight of adsorbents qe increases by increasing the adsorbate
concentration yet the oil removal% decreases as the initial oil concentration increases. For PAC,
when the initial oil concentration increased from 1.406 to 0.20 mg/L, the oil removal% increase
from 26.3% to 49.7%. Increasing the initial oil concentration led to increasing the amount of oil
adsorbed per unit weight of adsorbents and consequently the remaining surface area decreases.
Powdered activated carbon having higher porosity and surface area so they are more appropriate
materials for the removal of oil from oil–water emulsions.
The adsorption isotherm studies were performed by using samples of initial oil concentrations of
1000 mg/L, with an adsorbent dosages of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5/30 ml, and stirring to the equilibrium time
which is determined previously. The equilibrium experimental data for the adsorbents were
analyzed using Langmuir isotherm by plotting C e/qe against Ce (as shown in Fig.) and Freundlich
isotherm by plotting log qe against log Ce (as shown in Fig.).The results of the regression
equations obtained for the adsorption of oil-in-water emulsions by PAC. The isotherms yield
constants whose values express the affinity of adsorbate for the surface of adsorbent. Appling the
Langmuir isotherm model, it was observed that KL varies from (L/mg) the Langmuir constant
ranges from 0.009 to 0.002, and the values of r calculated by the above are between 0 and 1
confirming that isotherm is favourable. Applying the Freundlich model, the values of Kf are
42.55, 10.39. The higher values indicating more sorption, so the results show that powdered
activated carbon offered a very high sorption capacity. The smaller values of 1/n, the higher the
affinity between adsorbate and adsorbent. Similar trend was also observed for removal of oil.
The adsorption data obtained by Langmuir isotherms model with lower correlation coefficients
(R =0.87–0.92) while the adsorption data analyzed by the Freundlich isotherms model conform
best to following Freundlich equation with good correlation coefficients (R= 0.9798–0.9962). So
Freundlich isotherm is best to describe the sorption of oils from oil–water emulsion by activated
carbon.

26
GRAPH OF FREUNDLICH ISOTHERM

27
GRAPH OF LANGMUIR ISOTHERM

28
 CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

The results shows that the studied adsorbents can efficiently adsorbed the petroleum hydrocarbon
from oil-water emulsion in water. The result of this study clearly demonstrates the importance of
choosing the optimum adsorption parameters to obtain high adsorption rate of hydrocarbon,
which is essential for any practical application of adsorption process. The surface modification of
activated carbon reduces the specific surface area. The adsorption capacity of the adsorbent was
achieved. The hydrocarbon adsorption condition depends strongly on pH and the initial oil
concentration. The adsorption isotherms were well fitted with the Freundlich model.
The results of studies carrying out the adsorption of oil onto adsorbent powder activated carbon
(PAC) to the following conclusions:
(1) The evaluation of the performance of powdered activated carbon adsorbent compared
with the granular activated carbon indicates that they are more efficient in removing oil
from oil–water emulsions.
(2) The adsorbed amount of oil increases with increasing the dosage of the adsorbent, so that
a higher dosage required reaching the equilibrium faster than the low dosage to increase
the surface area of adsorbent.
(3) The adsorbed amount of oil increases with the increase of contact time and reaches the
equilibrium after 2.0 h. The equilibrium time is independent of the initial oil
Concentration.
(4) The adsorbed amount of oil is dependent on the initial oil concentration. It decreases as
the initial oil concentration increases.
(5) The adsorption data obtained by the Langmuir isotherm model has lower correlation
Coefficient than the adsorption data by Freundlich isotherm model. So the Freundlich
isotherm best describes the adsorption of oils from oil-water emulsion.

29
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