3.5 Liquid phase adsorption
The results of iodine removal by different activated carbon samples at doses between 0.2-1.0 gms are presented in Fig. 2. The KOH treated carbon samples showed higher iodine removal than the H3PO4 treated samples. While high iodine removal was registered in KOH treated BEFP and DRFP samples (92.0 and 83.69%) it was low in H3PO4 treated DRFP (61.95%). Carbon from different agro-wastes was reported to remove iodine from aqueous solution in the range between 50 and 95% [45]. Higher degrees of iodine adsorption have been reported to indicate a higher surface area and the presence of largely micro and mesoporous structures [61]. Results observed in the present study indicate that there exist differences among the different carbons in iodine adsorption which could be attributed to the differences in their surface areas, porosity and activation methods [23,45,61].