ABSTRACT
At present, it is necessary to develop low cost adsorbents to remove copper (Cu(II)) from the environment. In this study, adsorbents were produced by pyrolyzing a mixture of pinewood and industrial solid wastes (5:1). The physicochemical characteristics of the resulting adsorbents were assessed using instruments including XRD, BET, SEM and FTIR. The adsorbents had significant effects on the removal rate under a pH of 6 through electrostatic interactions. The maximum adsorption capacities of the three different samples at an initial Cu(II) concentration of 30 mg/L were 1.846 mg/g with BC, 2.166 mg/g with BC-FA, and 2.260 mg/g with BC-CG. The equilibrium data on these adsorbents were accurately represented by the Freundlich model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation.