Removal of Phenolic Compounds from Industrial Wastewater Through Adsorption Techniques

: Phenol is a high-risk environmental pollutant even at small concentrations. This study was conducted to remove phenol from industrial wastewater by adsorption using sawdust and activated carbon manufactured from coconut and comparing phenol removal efficiency using 2 types of adsorbents. The phenol removal efficiency of each of the two different types of adsorbents was studied at different factors in terms of the initial concentrations of phenol in wastewater (200, 240 and 290) mg/l at contact times (30, 60, 90 and 120) minutes and pH (3.9, 3.5 and 2.4) with different doses of activated carbon (0.5, 0.9 and 1.2) g and other doses of sawdust (20, 30 and 40) g. The results showed an increase in removal efficiency while increasing the dose of the adsorbent and increasing contact time. The highest efficiency using activated carbon is 85.6% when using 0.9 g of activated carbon at contact time of 120 minutes, while the removal efficiency is 40.4% if using 40 g of sawdust at the time of contact of 120 minutes