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Abstract
Arachis hypogaea hulls, an agricultural waste, were used to prepare activated carbon by chemical activation with zinc chloride under four different activation atmospheres. The most important parameter in chemical activation was found to be the chemical ratio (activating agent/precursor). Carbonization temperature and time are the other two important variables, which had significant effect on the pore structure of carbon. The maximum Brunquer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and micropore volume of the activated carbon was found to be 418 m2/g and 0.28 cm3/g, respectively. The activated carbon developed shows substantial capability to adsorb phenol from aqueous solutions. The kinetic data were fitted to the models of intraparticle diffusion, pseudo-second-order, and Lagergren, and followed more closely the pseudo-second-order chemisorption model. The isotherm equilibrium data were well fitted by the Langmuir and Freundlich models. Solution pH has significant effect on adsorption and the maximum uptake of phenol was reported at pH 3.5.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the help received from Dr. B.V.R. Murthy, Mr. J. N. Mohanty and Mr. R. K. Dwari of Regional Research Laboratory (CSIR), Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India for porosity analysis of samples. Prof. M. N. Biswas thankfully acknowledge the award of the Emeritus Professorship by AICTE tenable at Govt. College of Engineering and Leather Technology, Salt Lake, Kolkata.