Removal of Used Motor Oil from Water Body Using Modified Commercial Activated Carbon

In this study, modification of commercial activated carbon (AC) was carried out for adsorptionof used motor oil (UMO) from wastewater. The modification process involved impregnation ofphosphoric acid at ratio 1: 2 followed by 500oC for 2 h for carbonization. Characterization ofmodified activated carbon (MAC) was done by using scanning electron microscopy withenergy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to studymorphology and the structural change and to identify the surface functional group of MAC.Based on the results obtained from this study, the percentage yield of the MAC was 63% with amoisture content of 37%, and pH was 2.37. The adsorption of UMO by MAC was investigated.The effect of contact time, temperature, and pH to the adsorption process was studied, wherethe results showed that MAC had higher percentage of adsorption compared to AC. The studyof the reusability of MAC was also done for 30 min and three cycles. The result showed thatMAC could be regenerated and reused.The study of adsorption equilibrium was done by usingLangmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The adsorption of UMO proved to fit better to Freundlichisotherm compared to Langmuir isotherm with avalue of 0.9174. The adsorption kineticstudy was done usingpseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. The adsorption datashowed a better fit to pseudo-first-order kinetic model with avalue of 0.9239. Adsorptioncapacity was found to be 3.951 oil/g (MAC).