Keywords
Phenol
Zeolite
Adsorption
Alkaline fusion
How to Cite
Abstract
The presence of phenolic compounds in aquatic systems has become a significant environmental concern due to their toxicity and persistence. This study evaluates the effectiveness of synthetic zeolites as adsorbents for removing phenol from contaminated aqueous solutions. The adsorbent was synthesized from natural clay using ZnCl₂ as an activating agent through a straightforward three-step process: (i) calcination at 90°C, (ii) aging for 24 hours, and (iii) crystallization for 8 hours. The synthesized material was then characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to determine its mineralogical composition and the crystalline structure of the zeolite. The efficiency of phenol removal was assessed as a function of adsorbent dosage (0.1 g.L⁻¹ to 0.3 g.L⁻¹), contact time (20 to 60 minutes), and initial phenol concentration (500 mg.L⁻¹ to 5000 mg.L⁻¹). The adsorption kinetics were analyzed using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models, while equilibrium data were fitted to the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. The results confirmed the successful synthesis of FAU-X zeolite from smectitic-kaolinitic clay. The zeolite-based adsorbent demonstrated high efficiency in phenol removal, exhibiting a sorption capacity of 125 mg.g⁻¹ after 60 minutes. The adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order kinetics, while equilibrium data were best described by the Langmuir isotherm model, indicating a monolayer adsorption pattern. The retention of pollutants was primarily governed by chemical interactions, including hydrogen bonding and electrostatic attraction between phenol molecules and the adsorbent surface. This study highlights the potential of synthesizing cost-effective zeolite-based adsorbents for wastewater treatment, contributing to the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly remediation technologies.
References
Ewis D, Ba-Abbad MM, Benamor A, El-Naas MH, Adsorption of organic water pollutants by clays and clay minerals composites: A comprehensive review. Appl Clay Sci. 2022; 229: 106686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2022.106686
Tran HN. Adsorption technology for water and wastewater treatments. Water. 2023;15(15): 2857. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15152857
Yahya K, Msadok I, Mlayah A, Srasra E, Hamdi N. Retention and selectivity of phosphate and fluoride from single and industrial aqueous solutions using purified and surfactant modified Tunisian clay. Desalination Water Treat. 2021; 216: 199‑210. https://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2021.26814
Park Y, Ayoko GA, Kurdi R, Horváth E, Kristóf J, et al. Adsorption of phenolic compounds by organoclays: Implications for the removal of organic pollutants from aqueous media. J Colloid Interface Sci. 2013; 406: 196‑208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2013.05.027
Patel M, Patel D, Pillai P. Comparison of different treatment methods which are used for phenol removal: A mini review. Water Pract Technol. 2024; 19(7): 2761‑73. https://doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2024.143
Saputera WH, Putrie AS, Esmailpour AA, Sasongko D, Suendo V, et al. Technology advances in phenol removals: Current progress and future perspectives. Catalysts. 2021; 11(8): 998. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11080998
Petkovic S, Adnadjevic B, Jovanovic J. Novel kinetics model for adsorption of pollutant from wastewaters onto zeolites. Kinetics of phenol adsorption on zeolite-type silicalite. Adsorpt Sci Technol. 2019; 37(3‑4): 349‑64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263617419833201
Veeresh GS, Kumar P, Mehrotra I. Treatment of phenol and cresols in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) process: a review. Water Res. 2005; 39(1): 154‑70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2004.07.028
Mohammadi S, Kargari A, Sanaeepur H, Abbassian K, Najafi A, et al. Phenol removal from industrial wastewaters: a short review. Desalination Water Treat. 2015; 53(8): 2215‑34. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2014.883327
Dehmani Y, Alrashdi AA, Lgaz H, Lamhasni T, Abouarnadasse S, et al. Removal of phenol from aqueous solution by adsorption onto hematite (α-Fe₂O₃): Mechanism exploration from both experimental and theoretical studies. Arab J Chem. 2020; 13(5): 5474‑86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2020.03.026
El-Kordy A, Dehmani Y, Douma M, Bouazizi A, El Moustansiri H, El Abbadi S, et al. Experimental study of phenol removal from aqueous solution by adsorption onto synthesized Faujasite-type Y zeolite. Desalination Water Treat. 2022; 277: 144‑54. https://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2022.28958
Wang C, Shao N, Xu J, Zhang Z, Cai Z. Pollution emission characteristics, distribution of heavy metals, and particle morphologies in a hazardous waste incinerator processing phenolic waste. J Hazard Mater. 2020; 388: 121751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.121751
Fawcett-Hirst W, Temple TJ, Ladyman MK, Coulon F. A review of treatment methods for insensitive high explosive contaminated wastewater. Heliyon. 2021; 7(7): e07438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07438
Sodha V, Shahabuddin S, Gaur R, Ahmad I, Bandyopadhyay R, et al. Comprehensive review on zeolite-based nanocomposites for treatment of effluents from wastewater. Nanomaterials. 2022; 12(18): 3199. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12183199
Yousef R, Qiblawey H, El-Naas MH. Adsorption as a process for produced water treatment: A review. Processes. 2020; 8(12): 1657. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8121657
Chakravorty S, Chatterjee R, Majumder C. A review of phenol removal from wastewater by adsorption. J Indian Chem Soc. 2020; 97(12b): 2820‑3
Bello IA, Oladipo MA, Giwa AA, Adeoye DO. Adsorptive removal of phenolics from wastewater: A review. Int J Basic Appl Sci. 2013; 2(1): 79-90.
Ho S. Low-cost adsorbents for the removal of phenol/phenolics, pesticides, and dyes from wastewater systems: A review. Water. 2022; 14(20): 3203. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14203203
Ben Amor A, Ouakouak A, Boucetta S, Mahmoudi K, Hamdi N. Synthesis and characterization of geopolymer foams from mineral wastes: Application as adsorbent for Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions. Desalination Water Treat. 2023; 284: 165‑74. https://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2023.29291
Pérez Ramírez EE, Asunción ML, Rivalcoba VS, Martínez Hernández AL, Velasco Santos C. Removal of phenolic compounds from water by adsorption and photocatalysis. In: Soto-Hernández M, Palma-Tenango M, Garcia-Mateos MDR, editors. Phenolic compounds - natural sources, importance and applications. InTech; 2017. https://doi.org/10.5772/66895
Mudaber S, Batur J. Differences in heavy metals adsorption on natural, modified, and synthetic zeolites: A review. J Turk Chem Soc Sect A. 2023; 10(3): 847‑60. https://doi.org/10.18596/jotcsa.1263041
Derbe T, Temesgen S, Bitew M. A short review on synthesis, characterization, and applications of zeolites. Adv Mater Sci Eng. 2021; 2021(1): 6637898. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6637898
Mgbemere HE, Ekpe IC, Lawal GI. Zeolite synthesis, characterization and application areas: A review. 2017; 6: 45‑59
Khalid M, Joly G, Renaud A, Magnoux P. Removal of phenol from water by adsorption using zeolites. Ind Eng Chem Res. 2004; 43(17): 5275‑80. https://doi.org/10.1021/ie0400447
Asgari G, Seid Mohammadi A, Ebrahimi A, Hosseinzadeh E. Adsorption of phenol from aqueous solution by modified zeolite with FeCl3. Int J Environ Health Eng. 2013; 2(1): 6. https://doi.org/10.4103/2277-9183.107915
Koubaissy B, Toufaily J, El-Murr M, Daou TJ, Hafez H, Joly G, et al. Adsorption kinetics and equilibrium of phenol drifts on three zeolites. Open Eng. 2012; 2(3): 435‑44. https://doi.org/10.2478/s13531-012-0006-4
de Magalhães LF, da Silva GR, Peres AEC. Zeolite application in wastewater treatment. Adsorpt Sci Technol. 2022; 2022: 4544104. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4544104
Kordala N, Wyszkowski M. Zeolite properties, methods of synthesis, and selected applications. Molecules. 2024; 29(5): 1069. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29051069
Khaleque A, Alam MM, Hoque M, Mondal S, Haider JB, Xu B, et al. Zeolite synthesis from low-cost materials and environmental applications: A review. Environ Adv. 2020; 2: 100019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envadv.2020.100019
El Ouardi Y, Achalhi N, Butylina S, Geng S, Fadeev E, Virolainen S. A review on synthesis of zeolites from natural clay resources and waste ash: Recent approaches and progress. Miner Eng. 2023; 198: 108086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2023.108086
Yahya K, Msadok I, Moussa KB, Ba M, Hajri AK, Mlayah A, et al. Optimization of fluoride removal by activated clays using response surface methodology: Box–Behnken design, kinetic and isotherm studies. Int J Environ Sci Technol. 2024; 21(12): 7923‑40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-024-05535-6
Lafi A, Felhi M, Jaballi F, Guermit F, Trabelsi H, Zayani K, Tlili A. Exploration et cartographie géologique des séries phosphatées du Jebel Jebes (Région de Maknassy, Tunisie Centrale). In Annales des Mines et de la Géologie. 2016; 47: 90-99.
Hamdi N, Srasra E. Removal of phosphate ions from aqueous solution using Tunisian clay minerals and synthetic zeolite, J Environ Sci. 2012; 24(4): pp. 617–623, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1001-0742(11)60791-2.
Amri I, Assadi AA, Mellah B, Hamdi N. Optimized removal of chloroform and DMDS using synthetic zeolite (Na-P1) and activated carbon composite. Model Earth Syst Environ. 2024; 10: 2309‑28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-023-01911-2
Ben Amor A, Ouakouak A, Boucetta S, Mahmoudi K, Hamdi N. Synthesis and characterization of geopolymer foams from mineral wastes: application as adsorbent for Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions. Desalination Water Treat. 2023; 284: 165‑74. https://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2023.29291
Tran HN, Nguyen DT, Le GT, Tomul F, Lima EC, Woo SH, et al. Adsorption mechanism of hexavalent chromium onto layered double hydroxides-based adsorbents: A systematic in-depth review. J Hazard Mater. 2019; 373: 258‑70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.03.018
A.O D. Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherms studies of equilibrium sorption of Zn2+ unto phosphoric acid modified rice husk. IOSR J Appl Chem. 2012; 3(1): 38‑45. https://doi.org/10.9790/5736-0313845
Singh NB, Nagpal G, Agrawal S, Rachna. Water purification by using adsorbents: A review. Environ Technol Innov. 2018; 11: 187‑240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2018.05.006
Bahgaat AK, Hassan HE, Melegy AA, Abdel Karim A, Mohamed MH. Synthesis and characterization of Zeolite-Y from natural clay of Wadi Hagul, Egypt. Egypt J Chem. 2020; 63(10): 3791‑800. https://doi.org/10.21608/ejchem.2020.23195.2378
Dalang S, Tuah PM. Removal of phenol by zeolite. Trans Sci Technol. 2016; 3(1‑2): 107‑13
Mandal A, Das SK. Phenol adsorption from wastewater using clarified sludge from basic oxygen furnace. J Environ Chem Eng. 2019; 7(4): 103259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2019.103259
Cheng WP, Gao W, Cui X, Ma JH, Li RF. Phenol adsorption equilibrium and kinetics on zeolite X/activated carbon composite. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng. 2016; 62: 192‑8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtice.2016.02.004
Muthamilselvi P, Karthikeyan R, Kumar BSM. Adsorption of phenol onto garlic peel: optimization, kinetics, isotherm, and thermodynamic studies. Desalination Water Treat. 2016;57(5):2089‑103. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2014.979237
Nirmala G, Murugesan T, Rambabu K, Sathiyanarayanan K, Show PL. Adsorptive removal of phenol using banyan root activated carbon. Chem Eng Commun. 2021; 208(6): 831‑42. https://doi.org/10.1080/00986445.2019.1674839
Saravanakumar K, Kumar A. Removal of phenol from aqueous solution by adsorption using zeolite. Afr J Agric Res. 2013; 8(23): 2965‑9. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJAR11.194
Dong R, Chen D, Li N, Xu Q, Li H, He J, et al. Removal of phenol from aqueous solution using acid-modified Pseudomonas putida-sepiolite/ZIF-8 bio-nanocomposites. Chemosphere. 2020; 239:124708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124708
Ba Mohammed B, Yamni K, Tijani N, Alrashdi AA, Zouihri H, Dehmani Y, et al. Adsorptive removal of phenol using faujasite-type Y zeolite: adsorption isotherms, kinetics and grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation studies. J Mol Liq. 2019; 296: 111997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2019.111997
Mandal A, Bar N, Das SK. Phenol removal from wastewater using low-cost natural bioadsorbent neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves: adsorption study and MLR modeling. Sustain Chem Pharm. 2020; 17: 100308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scp.2020.100308
Asnaoui H, Dehmani Y, Khalis M, Hachem EK. Adsorption of phenol from aqueous solutions by Na–bentonite: kinetic, equilibrium and thermodynamic studies. Int J Environ Anal Chem. 2022; 102(13): 3043‑57. https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319.2020.1763328
He X, Wang B, Zhang Q. Phenols removal from water by precursor preparation for Mg Al layered double hydroxide: isotherm, kinetic and mechanism. Mater Chem Phys. 2019; 221: 108‑17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2018.09.046
Djebbar M, Djafri F, Bouchekara M, Djafri A. Adsorption of phenol on natural clay. Appl Water Sci. 2012; 2(2): 77‑86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-012-0031-8
Yousef RI, El-Eswed B, Al-Muhtaseb AH. Adsorption characteristics of natural zeolites as solid adsorbents for phenol removal from aqueous solutions: kinetics, mechanism, and thermodynamics studies. Chem Eng J. 2011; 171(3): 1143‑9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2011.05.012
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Kawthar Yahya, Jihed Moussa, Khawla Boussai, Boulanoir Lissir, Noureddine Hamdi