Study of phenol removal from wastewater by reverse osmosis process

Wastewater containing phenols and other toxic compounds requires careful treatment before discharge into a receiving water body. Those commonly used are adsorption, chemical oxidation and biological treatment processes. In this study, the performance of a thin film composite spiral wound type membrane in reverse osmosis process is investigated for rejecting the phenol from synthetic wastewater samples. The removal ratios according to changes in phenol concentration and using granular activated carbon filter were measured and reported. The experimental results indicated that combination of activated carbon and reverse osmosis can increase phenol removal up to 95%.

Keywords:

Wastewaters , phenol , reverse osmosis , rejection , activated carbon