Reusing Cow Manure for the Production of Activated Carbon Using Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) Activation Process and Its Liquid-Phase Adsorption Performance

Abstract

In this work, cow manure (CM) was reused as a potential precursor in the production of activated carbon (AC) using a potassium hydroxide activation process at different temperatures (i.e., 500, 600 and 700 °C). The optimal activated carbon from cow manure (CM-AC) with high specific surface area (ca. 950 m2/g) was further investigated for its adsorption performance in the removal of a model compound (i.e., methylene blue) from aqueous solution with various initial concentrations and adsorbent dosages at 25 °C. It was found that the resulting AC could be an effective adsorbent for removal of cationic dye from aqueous solution in comparison with a commercial coal-based AC. Based on the observations of the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the CM-AC adsorbent has a stronger interaction with the cationic compound due to its more oxygen-containing complex on the surface. Furthermore, the adsorption kinetic parameters fitted using the pseudo-second order model with high correlations were in accordance with their pore properties.

Enhancing the Pore Properties and Adsorption Performance of Cocoa Pod Husk (CPH)-Derived Biochars via Post-Acid Treatment

“…It can be seen that the adsorption kinetics fitted this model well with correlation coefficients (>0.92). Although the fitted adsorption capacities (i.e., qe) in this work were lower than those obtained from the adsorption of dyes onto activated carbon, they (seen in Table 3) increased as the value of C0 increased [37][38][39]. This increasing trend can be attributed to the fact that more MB compounds were adsorbed onto the CPH-based biochar product at the equilibrium condition without showing its adsorption exhaustion.…”

Liquid-Phase Removal of Methylene Blue as Organic Pollutant by Mesoporous Activated Carbon Prepared from Water Caltrop Husk Using Carbon Dioxide Activation

“…With high correlation coefficients (>0.98), the adsorption of MB into WCH-AC followed this kinetic model well. Regarding the discussion on the relationships between the values of the fitted model parameters (i.e., q e , k, and h) and process parameters (i.e., adsorbent dosage and C 0 ), this has been elucidated in previous studies [43]. The data in Table 4 indicates an important significance.…”

“…Based on the helium displacement method, the true densities of resulting AC were determined by the AccuPyc-1340 pycnometer (Micromeritics Co., Norcross, GA, USA). The calculations of other pore properties like particle density and average pore width are referred to in the previous study [43]. The textural microstructures and elemental compositions of resulting AC on the surface were observed by the S-3000N scanning electron microscopy -energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) (Hitachi Co., Tokyo, Japan).…”

Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles Immobilized on Activated Carbon Nanoparticles: Antibacterial Activity Enhancement Study and Its Application on Textiles Fabrics

“…In conjunction to the FTIR spectra shown in Figure 1b, wavenumber peaks of the 2100 cm −1 to 1500 cm −1 range represented C=O of either carboxyl (-C=OOH), lactone (-OC=O) or ester (-C=OOR) group [18,36,38,39]. It indicated that acidic groups such as carboxyl, lactone, phenol, and basic groups such as chromene, ketones, and pyrones still exist in activated carbon produced under 600 • C heat treatment [22]. This situation causes the synthesized AgNPs to easier incorporate on the surface of the ACNPs when it has a core-shell nanostructure with such flavonoids, saponin, or tannin.…”

“…As is widely known, ACNPs can be produced quickly from any biomass of plantation, agriculture, and forestry wastes [18][19][20][21], even from industrial livestock wastes [22]. This situation provides remarkable contribution in reducing severe environmental damage.…”