Iranian Journal of

Background and Objective: Natural organic matters (NOMs) are a mixture of chemically complex polyelectrolytes with varying molecular weights, produced mainly from the decomposition of plants and animal residues. Various purification methods are used for removal of NOMs from water. The objective of this study was to remove NOMs from aqueous solution using reformed continuous carbon nanotubes column. Materials and Methods: The removal of NOMs from aqueous solution using reformed continuous carbon nanotubes column was studied. Effect of several variables such as zero point of pH (pH_ZPC), pH, influent concentration of natural organic matters were studied and different isotherms were assessed. Results: Investigation of pH effect showed that the adsorbability of NOMs increased with decreasing of pH. The experiments indicated that carbon nanotubes (CNT) samples exhibit pH_ZPC around 6. Results from Freundlich, Langmuir, and BET isotherm experiments revealed that the correlation coefficient R² in Freundlich model was higher than that of Langmuir. In addition, experiments of continuous flow in different initial concentrations of NOMs showed that the adsorption capacities of CNT were 53.46, 30.40, and 24.75 mg/g for NOMs initial concentrations of 10, 5, and 3 mg/L, respectively. Conclusion: The present study shows that CNTs have high potential for adsorption of NOMs from aqueous solution