Phenolic compounds removal in table olive processing wastewater by column adsorption: conditions' optimization

The annual production of wastewater from the olive table industry poses a serious problem owing to its high organic matter load, which is highly concentrated in phenolic compounds (PCs) and inorganic materials. This research used adsorption to recover PCs from table olive wastewater (TOWW). Activated carbon was employed as a novel adsorbent. The activated carbon was obtained from olive pomace (OP) and activated using a chemical agent (ZnCl₂). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were applied to characterize the activated carbon sample. To optimize the biosorption conditions of PCs (adsorbent dose (A), temperature (B), and time (C)), a central composite design (CCD) model was used. An adsorption capacity was 1952.34 mg g^-1 for optimal conditions with an activated carbon dose of 0.569 g L^-1, a temperature of 39 °C, and a contact time of 239 min. The pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models as kinetic and isothermal mathematical models were proved to be more appropriate for the interpretation of the adsorption phenomenon of PCs. PC recovery was performed in fixed-bed reactors. The results of the adsorption of PCs from TOWW by activated carbon could be an effective process at a low cost.