Water Decolourisation Using Olive Mill Waste As Activated Carbon

Abstract

Libya is one of the largest countries in the olive oil production leading to generate massive amounts of olive-waste cakes during the manufacture process every year. Therefore, this experimental study aims to investigate the potential of olive-waste cake as a low-cost natural source for preparation activated carbon (AC). The solid olive oil mill residue was carbonized at 200 0C and chemically activated using two methods including Model I (25% Zncl2) and Model II (25% Zncl2 + 25% H2SO2) . To investigate the efficiency of prepared AC,  decolourization of methylene blue founded in an aqueous solution was conducted. The effectiveness of this process was studied via key parameters effects such as contact time, pH, and AC dose. The achieved results showed that the decolourization using Model II was more than of Model I. The optimum values of pH, contact time, and AC dose were 5, 120 min, and 2.5 g/L respectively. At these conditions the maximum methylene blue removal was 75%. The results indicate that olive-waste cake has a potential in future water treatment applications due to its high adsorption capacity.