multivariate optimization of gas refinery oily wastewaters treatment utilizing activated carbon as high throughput adsorbent

Multivariate optimization and modeling of gas refinery wastewaters treatment were performed via an adsorption mechanism utilizing activated carbon (ac) as an adsorbent. the adsorbent was characterized by sem, ft-ir, and xrd. the specific surface area of ac was calculated as high as 897 m2 g-1 by bet&bjh. the effect of ac dosage, treatment time, temperature, and ph were optimized by multivariate optimization utilizing design-expert software by a response surface method upon ccd design for two wastewaters of gas refineries. the method showed a cod removal of 93.0% and 87.0% for wastewaters of output and input of the gravity pool of the api, in turn. the adsorption process followed the first-order kinetics for the cod removal from the input wastewater of the gravity pool of the api and a zero-order model for the cod removal from its output wastewater. the authors strongly recommended the method for large scale wastewaters treatment.