Natural organic matters (NOM) is one of the major pollutants of the surface water. NOMs cause problems of taste, color and odor. Moreover, they increase the consumption of coagulants and chlorine, causing dangerous disinfectant's by-products. Humic substances are the main NOM components. One of the most efficient techniques for removing NOMs is the adsorption process. Finding out low cost, high efficiency and eco-friendly adsorbent for NOM removal from surface water is an interesting area of research. Arundo donax has been identified as a naturalized species in the Nile area, Sinai, Western Desert oases, Mediterranean coastal regions, and waste lands throughout Egypt's desert. This study aims to assess the utilization of arundo donax biochar for NOM removal and comparing its performance with the commercial activated carbon. In this study, Arundo donax was pyrolyzed and simultaneously KOH activation was used to produce biochar and used for humic acid (HA) from water. The impact of several operational parameters, including contact time, adsorbent dosage, and initial pH , have been studied. The findings show that for both GBC and CAC, the highest adsorption of humic acid occured at pH 4. At the same operation conditions, the equilibrium time was 40 min and 50 min and the maximum adsorption capacity was 405.86 mg/g and 30.64 mg/g for GBC and CAC respectively. The best-fitting isotherm model was  Freundlich model for both adsorbents with R2 = 0.988 for GBC and 0.879 for CAC. The best-fitting kinetic model for both adsorbent was  pseudo-second order model. with R2 = 1.0 for GBC and 0.9998 for CAC. The study showed that biochar made from Arundo donax is a promising low-cost, sustainable and ecologically friendly alternative for the removal of NOM from surface water and would provide a new sight for practical application.
 
 
Special Issue of AEIC 2024 (Civil Engineering  Session)