Ali Asghar Najafpoor - Associate Professor, Health Sciences Research Center, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Mashhad University of medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Sina Dousti - MSc in Environmental Health Engineering, Student Research Committee, School of Health, Mashhad University of medical Science, Mashhad, Iran
Ahmad Joneidi Jafari - Professor of Environmental Health Engineering, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Center for Environmental Health Technology, School of Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Ahmad Hosseinzadeh - MSc Student of Environmental Health Engineering, Student Research Committee, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Background: Phenol is an organic pollutant found in industrial effluents that is very toxic to humans and the environment. This study used pomegranate peel ash as a natural absorbent to remove phenol from aqueous solutions.Methods: In this study, pomegranate peel ash in different doses was used as a new adsorbent for the removal of phenol. The effects of contact time, pH, adsorbent dose and initial phenol concentration were recorded. Then, the adsorption data was described with Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms; Excel software was used for data analysis.Results: The highest percentage of phenol adsorption was observed at pH = 7. The optimum amount of adsorbent was 0.6 g/l, and after 120 minutes, the process reached an equilibrium state. The adsorption of phenol decreased following an increase in the pH of the solution. It was also observed that contact time significantly affected the rate of phenol adsorption. The experimental data fit much better in the Freundlich (R2 = 0.9056) model than in the Langmuir (R2 = 0.8674) model.Conclusion: Pomegranate peel ash has the potential to be utilized for the cost-effective removal of phenol from aqueous solutions.

Phenol removal, Pomegranate peel ash, Aqueous solution