Mentor/s
Eid Alkhatib and Penny Snetsinger
Participation Type
Poster
Abstract
Activated carbon is a substance that is utilized in the purification of water due to its large surface area that adsorbs impurities. It is made through the process of carbonization and activation. Raw porous materials are heated in inert gases at high temperatures, then treated with various activation agents. Nitrates are common, odorless, and colorless contaminants in water that are undetectable without testing. Consumption of these contaminants are known to cause serious health issues such as methemoglobinemia and cyanosis, especially in infants. The EPA maximum contaminant level (MCL) for nitrate in drinking water is 10 mg/L as nitrogen. In this study, commercially available activated carbon was modified under three different treatments expected to increase adsorption efficiency. The carbon was treated in a cationic surfactant decyl glucoside and zinc chloride. These treatments were studied under the same temperature, pH, contact time and nitrate concentration. The novelty of this study is the utilization of a factorial design of experiments approach. Factorial design, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis were used to assess results and determine the statistical significance of percent removal of different treatments.
College and Major available
Chemistry
Location
Digital Commons & West Campus West Building University Commons
Start Day/Time
4-26-2024 12:00 PM
End Day/Time
4-26-2024 2:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Optimizing Treatment of Activated Carbon for Nitrate Removal
Digital Commons & West Campus West Building University Commons
Activated carbon is a substance that is utilized in the purification of water due to its large surface area that adsorbs impurities. It is made through the process of carbonization and activation. Raw porous materials are heated in inert gases at high temperatures, then treated with various activation agents. Nitrates are common, odorless, and colorless contaminants in water that are undetectable without testing. Consumption of these contaminants are known to cause serious health issues such as methemoglobinemia and cyanosis, especially in infants. The EPA maximum contaminant level (MCL) for nitrate in drinking water is 10 mg/L as nitrogen. In this study, commercially available activated carbon was modified under three different treatments expected to increase adsorption efficiency. The carbon was treated in a cationic surfactant decyl glucoside and zinc chloride. These treatments were studied under the same temperature, pH, contact time and nitrate concentration. The novelty of this study is the utilization of a factorial design of experiments approach. Factorial design, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis were used to assess results and determine the statistical significance of percent removal of different treatments.
Students' Information
Stephanie Campbell- Chemistry May 2024
Samantha Pagliusi- Biochemistry May 2024