Carbonaceous material prepared from oriental cherry can be used for the adsorption of zinc ion from an aqueous solution. Parameters such as pH (4-11), temperature (293-333 K), mixing intensity (10-120 rpm) and contact time (0.5- 90 min) were studied. Increasing pH (99.6% at pH 11) and temperature (99.8% at 333 K) caused an increase in adsorption capacity. A pseudo-equilibrium state was reached within 1 min of contact time. Removal efficiency of zinc ion remained constant regardless of mixing intensity. The adsorption equilibrium data were best represented by the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The calculated maximum adsorption capacity was 3.541 mg/g. Thermodynamic studies demonstrated that the adsorption process was spontaneous with Gibb’s free-energy values ranging between -3.272 and -15.594 kJ/mol and endothermic with an enthalpy value of 86.984 kJ/mol. Therefore, carbonaceous material from oriental cherry was shown to have good potential for the adsorption of zinc ion.

The adsorption behavior of nitrate nitrogen was investigated from aqueous solution using char prepared from oak chip. The removal rate of nitrate nitrogen was found to be dependent on temperature and it is increased as the temperature increase. Adsorption equilibrium data of nitrate nitrogen on oak char. reasonably fitted Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The adsorption energy obtained from D-R model was 12.5 kJ/mole at 20℃ indicating an ion exchange process as primary adsorption mechanism. Thermodynamic parameters such as △Go,, △Ho, and △So were -23.76 kJ/mole, 26.1 kJ/mole and 89.7 J/K·mole at 20℃, respectively, indicated that the nature of nitrate nitrogen adsorption is spontaneous and endothermic.