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Background & Objectives: Phenol is a major toxicant present in industrial effluent that can adversely affect the biological treatment of wastewater. Conventional methods for removal of this chemical compound from wastewater are often expensive, hence cheap and available methods for wastewater treatment are required. The aim of present research is to develop economic, fast, and versatile method for the removal of toxic organic pollutants from wastewater using membrane eggshell.

Methods: In this research the effect of various parameters such as pH, contact time, temperature, dosage of shell membrane, and initial concentration of phenol were investigated. Central composite design (CCD) was applied to evaluate the effect of these variables. The chemical and physical characteristics of eggshell membranes were studied through SEM and XRF analysis.

Results: The results indicated that the optimum values for pH, dosage of shell membrane, contact time, temperature, and initial concentration for phenol sorption were 3.63, 3.78 g, 115.50 min, 20 ºC and 5 mg/L, respectively. The results of the CCD analysis showed that pH and phenol concentrations are fundamental parameters affecting the efficiency.

Conclusion: Results showed that eggshell, as a solid waste of the food industries, can be used as an effective sorbent for removal of phenol and other organic pollutants from aqueous solutions.