Incidence of the Presence of Lead on the Elimination of Humic Substances

Abstract

The main objective of our work is to test the performance of powder activated carbon (PAC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) in the retention of humic substances in the presence of lead. The adsorption tests conducted in synthetic solutions of distilled water. The results showed that, the removal efficiency of humic substances varies with the agitation time was obtained maximum efficiency after 180 minutes for PAC and 300 for the GAC. However, on granular activated carbon (GAC) recorded an improvement in the removal of humic substances in the order of 1.60%. The reaction rate is the same for the activated carbon powder (PAC). By against, for the GAC the removal rate of humic substances in the presence of lead is slower. A comparison between our results with the absorption of humic substances without the presence of lead showed that the elimination of humic substances (10 mg/l) in the presence of lead (5mg/l) on powder activated carbon (1 g/L) is disturbed. The removal efficiencies decrease with the increase on the pH of medium in an interval ranging from 2 to 12.The variation of the mass of lead has recorded an inhibiting role in the adsorption of humic substances for both activated carbons.