Biosorption of Pyrocatechol using dried Lemna minor: Kinetic and equilibrium studies

Background: Pyrocatechol is considered as apriority pollutant since it is harmful to organisms at low concentrations, and has been classified as hazardous pollutants. Therefore, the aim of this study is efficiency of Pyrocatechol removal by modified lemna minor from Aqueous Solution. Material and methods: This study was performed in laboratory at batch scale. The effects of different parameters including contact time, pH, Pyrocatechol initial concentration and biomass dosage were studied for removal of Pyrocatechol. All experiments were repeated twice and then adsorption isotherms and kinetics of different models were analyzed by comparing the coefficient of determination. The concentration of Pyrocatechol was measured by HPLC. Results: The results showed that Pyrocatechol removal was highest at a solution pH =3 and a adsorbent dose of 4 g/L, contact time of 90 min. The Pyrocatechol removal percentage decreased from 98.2 to 71.4%, when the concentration of Pyrocatechol was increased from 25 to 200 mg/L, at optimum pH and dosage. The Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second order Kinetics provided the best fit for the experimental data. conclusion: Overall, the studied absorbent can be used as an effective and low cost absorbent to treat the industrial wastewater and aqueous solution containing phenolic compounds.