SORPTION OF LINDANE BY WOOD CHARCOAL

The locally available wood charcoal (WC) is utilized as a sorbent to r emove lindane from aqueous phase. An attempt is made to increase the s orption potentiality by treating the WC with HCl and HNO3. Continuousl y stirred batch reactors (CSBR) are used to understand the significant effect of process parameters, like pH, ionic strength and sorbent dos e, on sorption of lindane by WC (1N HNO, treated) (here afterwards ref erred as WCT). The increase in sorbent dosage (from 2.5-25 g/L) increa sed the removal of lindane, for all sizes of WCT. However, the effect of ionic strength is least on lindane sorption. The effect of temperat ure on remover kinetics of lindane is also studied and the reaction ra te is found to be directly proportional to the temperature. The isoste ric heat of adsorption is -3.7 to -4.8 kcal/mol and hence the interact ion between lindane and WCT is best explained as physi-sorption.