PRODUCTION OF ACTIVATED CARBON FROM OLIVE TREE BRANCHES AND ITS APPLICATION FOR ADSORPTION BASED WATER TREATMENT

A growing water demand in the middle-eastern countries remains a key issue and serious 'water supply' concerns are pushing the respective authorities try their best to meet an ever-increasing water demand, both from the domestic and industrial sectors. Hence, an alternative and cheaper way to tackle this problem is urgently needed. One possible solution is the reuse of wastewater after advanced treatment for some selective non-potable purposes, which may release stress on the existing water supply sources including the 'groundwater' and 'energy-intensive desalination processes'. Considering this, we intend to determine the feasibility of tertiary treatment of polluted water using activated carbon adsorption based technology. Activated carbon sample for this proposed study will be developed using olive tree branches agricultural materials. Olive farming is very common in the Middle East region, and production of activated carbon from the olive tree branches will possibly deliver a product that can be used for advanced wastewater treatment. The present study will cover both the production of activated carbon from olive tree branches, optimization of production phases for highest achievable specific surface area activated carbon, and also the application of produced activated carbon for aqueous phase phenol removal from synthetic wastewater.