REMOVAL OF CHLOROPHENOLS USING LOW COST ADSORBENTS

Abstract

Pollution is an unavoidable evil of industrialization. Every industry directly or indirectly, in one form or the other pollutes the environment. Increasingly stringent legislation on the purity of drinking water has created a growing interest in the decontamination of water, waste water of polluted grade effluents to safe value. Toxic organic compounds have become an increasingly severe environmental problem especially as we become more aware of their resistance to natural degredation. Phenol and it's derivative are often found In the effluents from petroleum refinieries, gas and coke Industries and fibre glass units, smelting and connected metallurgical operations, plastic industries, pharmaceutical and Chemical Industries, paint and varnish industries, textile units making use of organic dyes, pulp and paper industry domestic waste waters, agricultural run off and chemical spills- In a petroleum refinery as much as 2500 tonnes of phenol are discharged with the effluent in one year. In a Chemical manufacturing unit producing bisphenol the annual phenol loss in the liquid effluent may be of the order of 800 tonnes. Thus a wide veriety of phenols get introduced in to aquatic environment and can lead to loss of aquatic life due to depletion of dissolved oxygen and hampering the delicate hydrological cycles. It reduces the availability of water for domestic and other purposes...