Preparation of High Surface Area Oxidized Activated Carbon from Peanut Shell and Application for the Removal of Organic Pollutants and Heavy Metal Ions

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 229; no. 12; pp. 1 - 17
• Main Authors: Liu, Jianyi, Liu, Yan, Peng, Jianbo, Liu, Zhanchao, Jiang, Yinhua, Meng, Minjia, Zhang, Wenli, Ni, Liang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.12.2018; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Adsorbents; Adsorption; Analytical methods; Aqueous solutions; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Chromium; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Data processing; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Fourier transforms; Heavy metals; Hydrogeology; Infrared spectroscopy; Isotherms; Lead; Metal ions; Nitric acid; Nitric acids; Organic chemistry; Oxidation; Peanuts; Phenols; Pollutant removal; Pollutants; Raw materials; Removal; Scanning electron microscopy; Soil Science & Conservation; Surface area; Surface chemistry; Wastewater; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Zinc; Zinc chloride; Zinc compounds; Multiple adsorption; Oxidized activated carbon; Acidification treatment; Peanut shell
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-018-4021-9

A peanut shell-derived oxidized activated carbon (OAC) with high surface area was prepared by zinc chloride (ZnCl 2 ) chemical activation and subsequent nitric acid oxidation. OAC was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and N 2 adsorption-desorption. The results showed that OAC had the surface area of 1807 m 2  g −1 , with the total pore volume of 0.725 cm 3  g −1 and average pore diameter of 3.8 nm. More importantly, when OAC acted as an adsorbent, it exhibited high efficiency to remove basic blue 41 (BB-41), congo red (CR), phenol, Cr(VI), and Pb(II) from aqueous solution due to its universality in adsorption. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out to study the effect of various parameters such as pH, initial concentration, temperature, and contact time. Also, the isotherms, kinetic models, and thermodynamics of adsorption process were investigated. The equilibrium data for CR and Pb(II) were fitted to Langmuir isotherm model, while Freundlich model was suitable for the equilibrium isotherm of BB-41, phenol, and Cr(VI), respectively. As the result indicated, peanut shell was a suitable raw material to synthesize OAC which could be employed as an efficient and universal adsorbent for removing organic pollutants and heavy metal ions from wastewater.