Abstract
M.Sc.
With increasing industrial activities in South Africa, many of its waters are
contaminated with both organic and inorganic pollutants. This is also a worldwide
challenge which has resulted in an escalation in research efforts to combat it.
Organic pollutants, for example, can be harmful to human health and the
environment. Even when present at low concentrations, they tend to
bio-accumulate and interact with endocrine systems. Therefore it is necessary that
these pollutants are removed from effluents before they are integrated with water
systems such as rivers and lakes.
In an effort to utilize economic and efficient removal techniques, low cost and
locally available materials have been used as potential adsorbents for the removal
of these organic pollutants from synthetic wastewater. These coal-based materials
were further fabricated into nanoporous sorbents through activation processes to
improve their adsorption properties. The project reported in this dissertation was
thus undertaken to explore, specifically, the efficacy of coal and coal-based
sorbents (acid treated coal, activated carbon and activated fly ash) in their ability
to remove phenolic compounds from wastewater.