Activated Carbon Produced from Waste Wood Pallets: Adsorption of Three Classes of Dyes

Abstract

Activated carbon was derived from waste wood pallets in Hong Kong via phosphoric acid activation and applied to adsorption of basic dye (methylene blue), acid dyes (acid blue 25 and acid red 151), and reactive dye (reactive red 23). The results showed that respective adjustment in phosphoric acid concentration, impregnation ratio, activation temperature, and activation time could maximize the surface area and pore volume of activated carbon. An increase of impregnation ratio or activation temperature significantly influenced the pore size distribution by expanding the porous structure and creating more macropores than micropores. The characterization of the carbon surface chemistry using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, however, revealed a decrease in the amount of several functional groups with increasing activation temperature. The physical properties (surface area and pore volume) of the wood wastederived activated carbon (using 36% phosphoric acid with an impregnation ratio of 1.5 at an activation temperature of 550°C for 1.5 h) were comparable to those of commercial activated carbon (Calgon F400). The contrasting pH effects on the adsorption of different classes of dyes signified the importance of both electrostatic interaction and chemical adsorption, which correlated to pH-dependent dissociation of surface functional groups. It is noteworthy that the physical properties of activated carbon were insufficient to account for the observed dye adsorption behavior, whereas the surface chemistry of activated carbon and the nature and chemical structure of dyes were more important. The fast kinetics and high capacity of dye adsorption of wood waste-derived activated carbon suggest that production of activated carbon from different types of wood waste should merit further investigation.

Removal of methylene blue using lemon grass ash as an adsorbent

“…After equilibration, the adsorbent was separated by centrifugation at 1800 ± 100 rpm for 10 min and the aqueous phase concentration of the dyes was analyzed using a UV-VIS spectrophotometer (Shimadzu-1800) by observing optical density at 662 nm. This process was repeated to determine the effects of different adsorption parameters such as adsorbent dose (0.1-0.55 g/50 mL), pH (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10), an contact time by keeping all other parameters at fixed values.…”

“…A number of agricultural waste types and byproducts of cellulosic source have been studied for their capacity to remove dyes from aqueous solutions. Soil nano-clays [1], bagasse (waste material from sugar cane) [2], waste wood pallets [4], raw bagasse, and tartaric acid-modified bagasse [5], tamarind fruit shell [6], rice husk, cotton, bark, hair and coal [7], raw pummelo peel [8], ghassoul, natural clay [9], Ricinus communis epicarp activated carbon [10], activated carbon prepared from rice husk [11], roots of Tephrosia purpurea, leaves and stems of Terminalia arjuna and bivalve snail shells [12], teak tree (Tectona grandis) bark powder [3], orange peel, neem leaves, banana peel, [13], water hyacinth root plant [14], miswak leaves [15], fly ash [16], orange and banana peel [17], ground nut shell powder [18], and mustard waste ash and buffalo dung ash [19] have been reported in the literature as low cost adsorbents for methylene blue. In the present study, lemon grass waste ash (LGA) was evaluated for the removal of methylene blue from an aqueous solution.…”

Batch Test Screening of Industrial Product/Byproduct Filter Materials for Agricultural Drainage Water Treatment

“…Phosphate removal by high iron content media, high aluminum content media, coal combustion residuals, and spent foundry sands could be the result of either the formation of low solubility chemical precipitates (i.e., aluminum, calcium, iron, and magnesium-phosphate compounds) [28][29][30][31] or direct PO 4 3− adsorption via ligand exchange at oxygen containing functional group sites present along surfaces of filter material particles [29][30][31][32][33]. Phosphate removal by the high carbon content media and surfactant modified clay/zeolite is probably due to ligand exchange adsorption [29,33,57,58] and/or electrostatic attraction between negatively charged PO 4 3− ions and positively charged filter material surfaces [34][35][36]41]. For the high carbon content media, surfactant modified clay/zeolite, coal combustion residuals, and spent foundry sand filter materials exhibiting capability for atrazine removal, the most likely removal mechanism is adsorption at filter material particle surfaces caused by London-van der Waals dispersion forces or hydrophobic interactions [37,41].…”

Malachite green dye adsorption from model aqueous solutions using corn cob activated carbon (ccac)

“…So, production and commercialization of cheap and efficient activated carbon has become extremely necessary and of great applicative interest. Many agricultural and industrial waste materials, such as waste wood [18,19], pine cone [20,21], coffee husk [22], corn stalk [18], tea leaves [17] and waste tea [16,23], orange peel [24], coconut shell [1], etc. are used for low cost activated carbon obtaining.…”