Modeling of the Adsorption Process of the Organic Pollutant from Synthetic Wastewater Using Different Adsorbents

Abstract

In the field of water and wastewater treatment, several simplified models of fixed-bed dynamics, such as the Thomas and Yoon–Nelson models, are commonly used by researchers to fit adsorption breakthrough data. This study presents experimental data on the removal of oil and COD from synthetic wastewater using fixed-bed adsorption with various adsorbents, including powdered and granular activated carbon (PAC and GAC) and silica gel. The data were fitted using the Thomas and Yoon–Nelson models. Both models were applied to a fixed-bed column under varying inlet flow rates (1, 2, and 3 mL/min) and initial concentrations of oil (100, 600, and 800 ppm) and COD (2250, 14500, and 25000 ppm) to evaluate the performance of the adsorbents. The results showed that the Thomas model accurately described the adsorption behavior of oil and COD on all adsorbents. Notably, PAC achieved the highest correlation coefficients, with R² values of 0.97 for oil and 0.94 for COD, compared to the Yoon–Nelson model, which yielded R² values of 0.89 and 0.83 under a flow rate of 3 mL/min and initial concentrations of 50 ppm for oil and 1400 ppm for COD.