Abstract
A timber industry waste was transformed to activated carbon by a one-step chemical activation process using H
3
PO
4
(H). The used activated carbon (SDH) was characterized by N
2
adsorption, FTIR, density, pH, point of zero charge pH
pzc
, moisture and ash content. Methylene blue (MB) and the iodine number were calculated by adsorption from the solution. The applicability of the different activated carbon produced was carried out to treatment of aqueous waste contaminated with iodine-labeled prolactin (I-PRL) Treatment processes were performed under the varying conditions; contact time, temperature, carbon type, carbon dosage, and different particle size of the activated carbon (SDH). The results indicated that 5 hours are sufficient to reach a plateau, and the amount of I-PRL adsorbed on SDH activated carbons increase with the solution temperature with thermodynamic parameter of ΔG° = −7.962 (kJ/mol), ΔH° = 28.869 (kJ/mol) and ΔS° = 109.94 (J/mol K). The optimum adsorption results were reached using carbon dose of 0.1 gm with particle size of <0.25 mm, and a batch factor (V/M) of 7.14 mlg
−1
. First- and second-order equations, intraparticle diffusion equation, and the Elovich equation have been used to test experimental data. The experimental data was found to fit the second-order model and a chemisorptions mechanism. 0.7 M NaOH can be used for regeneration of spent SDH activated carbon with the efficiency of 99.6% and the regenerated carbon can be reused for five cycles effectively.