Abstract
Experimental studies were done on the adsorption of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylenes and their binary mixtures by rice husk activated carbon in an isothermal condition of 25 degrees C. The results showed that the uptake of each compound was considerably reduced in the presence of other component. The adsorptive orders of these four volatile organic compounds were same in single-and binary-solute system: toluene > benzene > and p-xylene > ethyl benzene. This reflects the effect of molecular configuration chemical structure, solubility and molecular weight on the adsorption process. Presence of background organic matter adversely affected the adsorption capacity of toluene, onto rice husk activated carbon.