Pollutants removal onto novel activated carbons made from lignocellulosic precursors

Abstract

The adsorption of phenol and mercury from dilute aqueous solutions onto new activated carbons was studied. These included activated carbons produced from novel precursors, namely rapeseed, vine shoots and kenaf, and samples oxidised with nitric acid in liquid phase. The results have shown the significant potential of rapeseed, vine shoots and kenaf for the activated carbon production. The activated carbons produced by carbon dioxide activation were mainly microporous with BET apparent surface area up to 1224m2g-1 and pore volume 0.5cm3g-1. The effects of concentration and pH were studied. The phenol adsorption isotherms at 25ºC followed the Freundlich model with maximum adsorption capacities of approximately 80mgg-1 and 60mgg-1 for the pristine and oxidised activated carbons, respectively. The influence of pH on the phenol adsorption has two trends for pH smaller and bigger than 10. The maximum adsorption capacity of mercury adsorption onto activated carbon made from vine shoots reaches 1103mgg-1. The adsorption depends on the mercury species and the on the adsorbent properties, namely porosity and net surface charge.