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A chemical-activated carbon (CAC) was prepared by phosphoric acid activation of olive stone. The CAC was characterized using various analytical techniques and evaluated for the removal of amoxicillin from aqueous solutions under different operating conditions (initial concentration, 12.5-100 mg L, temperature, 20-25 °C, contact time, 0-7000 min). The CAC characterization indicates that it is a microporous carbon with a specific surface area of 1174 m/g and a pore volume of 0.46 cm/g and contains essentially acidic functional groups. The adsorption tests indicated that 93 % of amoxicillin was removed at 20 °C for 25 mg L initial concentration. Moreover, it was found that adsorption capacity increased with contact time and temperature. Kinetic study shows that the highest correlation was obtained for the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, which confirms that the process of adsorption of amoxicillin is mainly chemisorption. Using the intraparticle diffusion model, the mechanism of the adsorption process was determined. The equilibrium data analysis showed that the Sips and Langmuir models fitted well the experimental data with maximal adsorption capacities of 67.7 and 57 mg/g, respectively, at 25 °C. The chemical-activated carbon of olive stones could be considered as an efficient adsorbent for amoxicillin removal from aqueous solutions.

Abstract:The treatment of NO x from automotive gas exhaust has been widely studied, however the presence of low concentrations of NO x in confined areas is still under investigation. As an example, the concentration of NO 2 can approximate 0.15 ppmv inside vehicles when people are driving on highways. This interior pollution becomes an environmental problem and a health problem. In the present work, the abatement of NO 2 immission is studied at room temperature. Three activated carbons (ACs) prepared by physical (CO 2 or H 2 O) or chemical activation (H 3 PO 4 ) are tested as adsorbents. The novelty of this work consists in studying the adsorption of NO 2 at low concentrations that approach real life immission concentrations and is experimentally realizable. The ACs present different structural and textural properties as well as functional surface groups, which induce different affinities with NO 2 . The AC prepared using water vapor activation presents the best adsorption capacity, which may originate from a more basic surface. The presence of a mesoporosity may also influence the diffusion of NO 2 inside the carbon matrix. The high reduction activity of the AC prepared from H 3 PO 4 activation is explained by the important concentration of acidic groups on its surface.

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The textural properties and surface chemistry of different activated carbons, prepared by the chemical activation of olive stones, have been investigated in order to gain insight on the NO2 adsorption mechanism. The parent chemical activated carbon was prepared by the impregnation of olive stones in phosphoric acid followed by thermal carbonization. Then, the textural properties and surface chemistry were modified by chemical treatments including nitric acid, sodium hydroxide and/or a thermal treatment at 900 °C. The main properties of the parent and modified activated carbons were analyzed by N2-adsorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques, in order to enlighten the modifications issued from the chemical and thermal treatments. The NO2 adsorption capacities of the different activated carbons were measured in fixed bed experiments under 500 ppmv NO2 concentrations at room temperature. Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) was applied after adsorption tests in order to quantify the amount of the physisorbed and chemisorbed NO2. The obtained results showed that the development of microporosity, the presence of oxygen-free sites, and the presence of basic surface groups are key factors for the efficient adsorption of NO2.

The aim of the present work is to study the effect of different activation methods for the production of a biomass-based activated carbon on the CO 2 and CH 4 adsorption. The influence of the activation method on the adsorption uptake was studied using three activated carbons obtained by different activation methods (H 3 PO 4 chemical activation and H 2 O and CO 2 physical activation) of olive stones. Methane and carbon dioxide pure gas adsorption experiments were carried out at two working temperatures (303.15 and 323.15 K). The influence of the activation method on the adsorption uptake was studied in terms of both textural properties and surface chemistry. For the three adsorbents, the CO 2 adsorption was more important than that of CH 4 . The chemically-activated carbon presented a higher specific surface area and micropore volume, which led to a higher adsorption capacity of both CO 2 and CH 4 . For methane adsorption, the presence of mesopores facilitated the diffusion of the gas molecules into the micropores. In the case of carbon dioxide adsorption, the presence of more oxygen groups on the water vapor-activated carbon enhanced its adsorption capacity.

Abstract:The aim of the present study is to provide new insights into the CO 2 and CH 4 adsorption using a set of biomass-based activated carbons obtained by physical and chemical activation of olive-stones. The adsorption behavior is analyzed by means of pure gas adsorption isotherms up to 3.2 MPa at two temperatures (303.15 and 323.15 K).The influence of the activation method on the adsorption uptake is studied in terms of both textural properties and surface chemistry. For three activated carbons the CO 2 adsorption was more important than that of CH 4 . The chemically activation resulted in higher BET surface area and micropore volume that lead to higher adsorption for both CO 2 and CH 4 . For methane the presence of mesopores seems to facilitate the access of the gas molecules into the micropores while for carbon dioxide, the presence of oxygen groups enhanced the adsorption capacity.