Study on the phenol removal for the security of water quality in rural areas.

For the security of water quality in rural areas, adsorption removal of phenol which is one of disinfectants for excretions by six kinds of commercial activated carbon was investigated.At equilibrium concentration of 1 and 10 ppm, activated carbon indicated pH 10.19 adsorbed phenol as much as 2.17 and 1.84 times compared with activated carbon indicated pH 3.06, respectively. At low equilibrium concentration of phenol, the amount adsorbed was significantly influenced by surface pH of activated carbon (p <0.05).These results suggest that the difference in amount of phenol adsorbed onto activated carbon is due to the interaction between phenol and surface oxygen groups on the adsorbent. Therefore, it is concluded that the activated carbon of which surface is basic suitable for the adsorption removal of phenol in the agricultural waste waters.