Organic Desorption and Chemical Regeneration of Spent Carbon Developed from Fertilizer Waste Slurry

Abstract

The waste slurry generated in fertilizer plants in India has been converted into a cheap carbonaceous adsorbent material. This product is a promising scavenger of some toxic metal ions and phenols in industrial effluents. The reported investigations deal with the chemical regeneration of the spent sorbent materials. Organic as well as inorganic regenerants were experimented with for the regeneration of exhausted carbon samples. Sorbent material was exhausted with 2,4,6-trinitrophenol, 4-nitrophenol, 4-chlorophenol, and 1,3-dihydroxybenzene. The results indicate that organic chemicals with solubilizing powers are better regenerants for spent carbon particles than inorganic elutants. The adsorbent material was used up to 28 cycles and the adsorbent, after regeneration with organic regenerants, retains more than 90% of the sorption capacity of virgin carbon.