Iron Removal from Groundwater by Adsorption Process onto Activated Carbon Obtained from Pinus Halepensis Cone Wastes

Activated carbon (AC) is being developed as a treatment for decontaminating polluted water. In this study, the activated carbon prepared by physical activation of Pinus halepensis cone wastes was applied for iron removal from groundwater. The adsorption process was performed in two steps: batch and fixed-bed column adsorption. The minimum time to reach the adsorption equilibrium was 60 min with maximum of Fe²⁺ removal equal to 7.35 mg/g. The isotherm models were used to fit the experimental data and the results showed good correlations, with the Langmuir isotherm with good linear correlation coefficients. The effective retention volume of the fixed-bed column is 360 BV for AC. The prepared AC showed promising results, which makes it convenient to serve an effective adsorbent for the removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater.