The 7th International Conference on Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology (ABB 2024)

Abstract: The research aims to carry out the study of toxic phenol removal from wastewater by low-cost natural bio-adsorbent neem leaves. The neem leaves were characterized by SEM, XRD, FTIR and BET analyzers. The batch study of phenol removal was conducted with the variation of initial pH, contact time, adsorbent dose, temperature and initial phenol concentration. The column study was also performed at optimum pH with the variation of bed height, flow rate and initial phenol concentration. The kinetics, isotherms and thermodynamics were examined with the experimental results. These tests support that the adsorption mechanism involves the interactions between the cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin materials of the adsorbent and phenol molecules through n- π, π-π and H-bonding. The tests also support for both physical and chemical adsorptions in the adsorption process. The scale-up designs were performed for both batch and fixed bed column operations. The phenol desorption from used adsorbent with ethanol solution (30% v/v) and distilled water were investigated to evaluate the regeneration efficiency. The safe disposal of used adsorbent was studied by incineration. The multiple linear regressions (MLR) and artificial neural networks (ANN) were also tested which show that the experimental results are applicable for successful predictions. These experiments were also carried out using real industrial wastewater from a coke oven plant to check its commercial applications. The research concludes that the neem leaves are effective for phenol removal and can be successfully applied to many small and medium scale industries, especially in the third world countries.

Biography: Ashanendu Mandal has worked in ONGC for more than 34 years. His experience includes commissioning, modifications, safety, operations, artificial lifts, pressure maintenance, EOR and planning in offshore and onshore oilfields. He has also vast experience in marketing of upstream and downstream petroleum products. He has attended several training programs in USA, Canada and Singapore. He has undertaken the advanced management training course in IIM, Calcutta along with its integrated industry visits in Belgium, Netherlands, France and Norway. He has published technical papers in Chemical Weekly. He is graduated as B. Sc (Chemistry) and B. Tech (Chemical Engineering) from University of Calcutta. He is an M. Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur and has also acquired MBA degree in Finance from IGNOU, New Delhi. He is the lifetime professional member of Indian Chemical Society and Indian Science Congress. He is now doing research in University of Calcutta. He has been recognized with the Best Researcher Award 2020 by VD Good International Professional Association. He has participated in many international conferences across the globe viz., Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Bahrain, Bangkok, Barcelona, Cape Town, Dubai, India, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, London, Paris, Perth, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Singapore, Terengganu, Yangon as invited speaker.