Stabilized landfill leachate treatment by sugarcane bagasse derived activated carbon for removal of color, COD and NH3-N – Optimization of preparation conditions by RSM

The present work demonstrated preparation of sugarcane bagasse derived activated carbon (SCAC) by physico-chemical activation method for adsorptive removal of color, COD and NH3-N from an anaerobic landfill located at Sahom, Perak, Malaysia. The effect of variable parameters in SCAC preparation includes activation time, activation temperature and KOH impregnation were studied. Based on the central composite design (CCD), the quadratic model was employed in order to correlate the effect of variable parameters in SCAC preparation on adsorptive removal of pollutant and the carbon yield. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the optimum conditions for preparation of SCAC was at 687 °C of activation temperature, 2 h of activation time and 2.59 of impregnation ratios with higher adsorptive removal of color (87.3%), COD (77.8%), and NH3-N (41.05%), respectively. The experiment results showed the capability of SCAC for adsorptive removal of pollutants from stabilized landfill leachate treatment.