Separation efficiency of glucose and maltose from industrial effluent by granular activated carbon

This paper describes the performance of Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) to adsorb and separate glucose and maltose solutes from the industrial effluents by adsorption process. In this study, the capability of Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) to adsorb glucose and maltose were experimentally examined. Commercial GAC (mesh 12-20), supplied by Sigma Aldrich company in the UK was used in this work. The parameters affecting the sorbate adsorption such as the pH of the solution, initial solution concentration, shaking time and speed, sorbent dose and temperature were tested. Additionally, the adsorption equilibrium isotherm was also tested using the common isotherm modules; Langmuir and Freundlich. GAC exhibited a capability to adsorb glucose and maltose from the industrial effluent. Also, the glucose adsorption process was physical and in good agreement with the Freundlich isotherm model, while, the maltose adsorption process was a physical and the adsorption data can be adequately described by the Freundlich and Langmuir models.