Abstract
The rice-husk-based mesoporous activated carbon (MAC) used in this study was precarbonized and activated using phosphoric acid. N-2 adsorption/desorption isotherm, X-ray powder diffraction, electron spin resonance, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Si-29-NMR spectroscopy, and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were used to characterize the MAC. The tannery wastewater carrying high total dissolved solids (TDS) discharged from leather industry lacks biodegradability despite the presence of dissolved protein. This paper demonstrates the application of free electron-rich MAC as heterogeneous catalyst along with Fenton reagent for the oxidation of persistence organic compounds in high TDS wastewater. The heterogeneous Fenton oxidation of the pretreated wastewater at optimum pH (3.5), H2O2 (4 mmol/L), FeSO(4)a <...7H(2)O (0.2 mmol/L), and time (4 h) removed chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon and dissolved protein by 86, 91, 83, and 90 %, respectively.