Efficiency of Two Types of Activated Carbon Columns to Treat Industrial Wastewater : A Case Study

Langmuir, Removal Efficiency. Abstract—Heavy metals are hazardous elements in aqueous solutions which threaten the living thing organisms. Steel making plant is among the industries which may generate high amounts of pollutants and can possess high values of heavy metals. In this research granular activated carbon material is used in two different types: 1) column made of separate layers of activated carbon and sand 2) column made of mixed layers of activated carbon and sand. Then the removal efficiency of TDS, Turbidity, Fe Concentration, Zn Concentration and Mn Concentration are considered. Based on the results, both systems can efficiently remove heavy metals from this wastewater while they have some minor differences. In the end, the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms are evaluated for both adsorption columns. These models showed that they can match with experimental results efficiently.