Ilia Papadopoulou, "Treatment and purification of landfill leachate using palm leaves biochar", Diploma Work, School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece, 2021
https://doi.org/10.26233/heallink.tuc.89775
The purpose of this study was the adsorption of total phenolic compounds from landfill leachate using waste palm leaves. The waste material was initially pyrolysed into biochar at 600˚C. Then, the pyrolysis product was chemically activated with KOH at 800˚C. The two (2) materials were characterized for specific surface area, morphology and surface structure by BET, SEM-EDS and FTIR analyses. A series of experiments were conducted to determine the most efficient adsorbent. The experiments were carried out using both batch and fixed bed column. In the batch experiments, it was studied the contact time and adsorbent dose, while in the fixed bed column it was investigated the influence of leachate dilution, flow rate of leachate in the column, and adsorbent regeneration. Subsequently, the findings of the column experiments were fit into the Thomas, Adams-Bohart and Yoon Nelson models. Based on the results, it was observed that the highest doses of biochar presented best results for the batch experiments. In addition, the activated biochar was used in the fixed-bed column tests with landfill leachate dilution ratios 1:15, 1:20, and 1:25. The breakthrough time was 270 min, 285 min, and 300 min, respectively. Overall, the models that best described the column adsorption were both the Thomas and the Yoon-Nelson model, as it demonstrated the best correlation coefficient.