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. 2020 Feb 27;17(5):1519.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17051519.

Treatment of Gaseous Ammonia Emissions Using Date Palm Pits Based Granular Activated Carbon

Muhammad Vohra  1
Affiliations

Treatment of Gaseous Ammonia Emissions Using Date Palm Pits Based Granular Activated Carbon

Muhammad Vohra. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The present work investigated the application of granular activated carbon (GAC) derived from date palm pits (DPP) agricultural waste for treating gaseous ammonia. Respective findings indicate increased breakthrough time (run time at which 5% of influent ammonia is exiting with the effluent gas) with a decrease in influent ammonia and increase in GAC bed depth. At a gas flow rate of 1.1 L/min and GAC column length of 8 cm, the following breakthrough trend was noted: 1295 min (2.5 ppmv) > 712 min (5 ppmv) > 532 min (7.5 ppmv). A qualitatively similar trend was also noted for the exhaustion time results (run time at which 95% of influent ammonia is exiting with the effluent gas). The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) findings for the produced GAC indicated some salient functional groups at the produced GAC surface including O-H, C-H, C-O, and S=O groups. Ammonia adsorption was suggested to result from its interaction with the respective surface functional groups via different mechanisms. Comparison with a commercial GAC showed the date palm pits based GAC to be having slightly higher breakthrough and exhaustion capacity.

Keywords: activated carbon; adsorption; ammonia gas; date palm pits.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) The experimental setup used for the dynamic continuous ammonia gas flow adsorption experiments. (b) The BET adsorption isotherm findings for the date pits granular activated carbon (GAC) (Preparation conditions: Phosphoric acid (60% w/w); Impregnation ratio 1.6 mL/g (acid/date-pits); Furnace temperature 500 °C for 2 h). (c) The transmittance vs wavenumber Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) findings for the produced GAC (Preparation conditions: Phosphoric acid (60% w/w); Impregnation ratio 1.6 mL/g (acid/date-pits); Furnace temperature 500 °C for 2 h). (d) SEM findings for the GAC produced from date palm pits (Preparation conditions: Phosphoric acid (60% w/w); Impregnation ratio 1.6 mL/g (acid/date-pits); Furnace temperature 500 °C for 2 h).
Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) The experimental setup used for the dynamic continuous ammonia gas flow adsorption experiments. (b) The BET adsorption isotherm findings for the date pits granular activated carbon (GAC) (Preparation conditions: Phosphoric acid (60% w/w); Impregnation ratio 1.6 mL/g (acid/date-pits); Furnace temperature 500 °C for 2 h). (c) The transmittance vs wavenumber Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) findings for the produced GAC (Preparation conditions: Phosphoric acid (60% w/w); Impregnation ratio 1.6 mL/g (acid/date-pits); Furnace temperature 500 °C for 2 h). (d) SEM findings for the GAC produced from date palm pits (Preparation conditions: Phosphoric acid (60% w/w); Impregnation ratio 1.6 mL/g (acid/date-pits); Furnace temperature 500 °C for 2 h).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Effect of influent ammonia gas concentration on the adsorption breakthrough curve profile of ammonia gas on to GAC produced from date palm pits. (a) GAC SSABET = 822 m2/g and average pore width = 23.01 Å; ammonia/NH3 gas flow rate = 1.1 L/min; influent ammonia/NH3 gas concentrations 2.5, 5, and 7.5 ppmv; GAC column length = 8 cm; GAC bed dia. 6.35 mm. (b) GAC SSABET = 822 m2/g and average pore width = 23.01 Å; ammonia/NH3 gas flow rate = 2.2 L/min; influent ammonia/NH3 gas concentrations 2.5, and 7.5 ppmv; GAC column length = 8 cm; GAC bed dia. 6.35 mm.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effect of influent ammonia gas concentration on the adsorption breakthrough curve profile of ammonia gas on to GAC produced from date palm pits (GAC SSABET = 822 m2/g and average pore width = 23.01 Å; ammonia/NH3 gas flow rate = 1.1 L/min; influent ammonia/NH3 gas concentrations 2.5, 3, and 10 ppmv; GAC column length = 6 cm; GAC bed dia. 6.35 mm).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of influent ammonia/NH3 gas flow rate on the adsorption breakthrough curve profile of ammonia gas on to GAC produced from date palm pits (GAC SSABET = 822 m2/g and average pore width = 23.01 Å; ammonia/NH3 gas flow rates = 1.1, 1.65, 2.2, and 3.3 L/min; influent ammonia/NH3 gas concentrations 5 ppmv; GAC column length = 8 cm; GAC bed dia. 6.35 mm).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effect of GAC column length on the adsorption breakthrough curve profile of ammonia gas on to GAC produced from date palm pits (GAC SSABET = 822 m2/g and average pore width = 23.01 Å; ammonia/NH3 gas flow rate = 1.1 L/min; influent ammonia/NH3 gas concentrations 5 ppmv; GAC column lengths = 4, 6, and 8 cm; GAC bed dia. 6.35 mm).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of GAC type on the adsorption breakthrough curve profile of ammonia gas on to GAC produced from date palm pits (SSABET 822 m2/g for date palm pits based GAC and 1100 m2/g for Filtrasorb 400 GAC; ammonia/NH3 gas flow rate = 2.2 L/min; influent ammonia/NH3 gas concentrations 5 ppmv; GAC column length = 6 cm; GAC bed dia. 6.35 mm).
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