Parametric Study and Empirical Modeling for the Equilibrium and Kinetic Adsorption of Milk Organics onto Stone Cutting Particles

The present paper investigates the treatment of dairy wastewater by adsorption on stone cutting solid waste. It implements the innovative concept of “treating waste by waste.” Batch adsorption experiments were performed for obtaining kinetic curves of percentage reduction in COD. The treatment efficiency is investigated as functions of the operating parameters including: stirring rate, pH, particle dosage and contact time. Both the rate of adsorption and the equilibrium removal efficiency increase with increasing particle dosage. Increasing the stirring rate increases the adsorption rate, while it has no effect on equilibrium efficiency. The effect of pH is found to be unique; the adsorption occurs mainly at a pH value of around 6. Pseudo second order model is found to fit experimental data.