The
environmental problems in Peru are rooted in the waste management
of the residual agricultural biomass. Via our cooperative international
research, nine different agricultural wastes from Peru were used as
renewable sources to produce activated carbons that were tested in
gas-phase xylene adsorption. The special properties of agro-waste
activated carbons are the very large mesopore surface area, the narrow
pore size distribution within the microporous–mesoporous region,
and the slightly acidic character in the presence of oxygen-containing
surface groups. The textural, structural, and surface properties of
nine agro-waste activated carbons were correlated with their adsorption
capacities in xylene adsorption and compared with those of a commercial
activated carbon made of black coal. Adsorption capacities of agro-waste
activated carbons were in the range of 371–115 mgxylene/gAC, whereas the adsorption capacity was 214 mgxylene/gAC for black coal-activated carbon. Higher adsorption
capacities of ACs can be assigned to the synergism of their textural
properties (larger mesopore surface area and larger micropore volume
related to total pore volume) and their surface properties (lower
content of surface oxygen functional groups related to their less
acidic character and higher π–π* transitions in
aromatic rings resulting in fewer defects within the graphitic structure).
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