Removal of organic pollutants from wastewater using humic substances

The potential of humic substances in removal of pollutants from wastewater effluents was analyzed. The compost was used as source of humic substances and phenol was used as model organic pollutant. The batch kinetics and isotherm studies were conducted to evaluate capacity of compost for phenol. The dissolved humic substances were precipitated out of solution using iron salts, prior to analysis of residual phenol using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results show that maximum capacity of compost for phenol was 1.87 mg/g and humic substances exhibited higher affinity for phenol