Adsorption of Methylene Blue and Phenol by Wood Waste Derived Activated Carbon
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 5
Abstract
The phosphoric acid activated carbon (PAC) was derived from waste wooden pallets by a two-step chemical activation technique, carbonization and phosphoric acid activation in sequence. A widely used commercial activated carbon, Calgon Filtrasorb 400 (F400), was studied in parallel for comparison. The physical properties and surface chemistry of the activated carbons were characterized using BET- adsorption, elemental analysis, Boehm’s titration, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. PAC possessed physical properties (surface area and pore volume) that were comparable to those of F400, but displayed distinct surface chemistry in terms of , surface acidity and basicity, and surface functional groups. Batch studies were conducted to evaluate the methylene blue (MB) and phenol adsorption capacity of PAC and F400 and their dependence on pH, contact time, and initial adsorbate concentration. Experimental results showed that the solution pH slightly influenced the adsorption of MB and phenol on F400, whereas it had no effect on their adsorption on PAC. Equilibrium adsorption data were fitted with an Langmuir isotherm equation. In comparison with F400, PAC showed a higher adsorption capacity for MB but lower for phenol. Given the comparable physical properties of PAC and F400 and the polar nature of MB and phenol, surface chemistry of the two carbons appeared to determine the adsorption mechanism and capacity. The strongly negative surface of PAC, due to phosphoric acid activation, facilitated the adsorption of positively charged MB, whereas the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups on PAC inhibited phenol adsorption.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the University Grants Council for Emerging High Impact Area (Project No. HIA 04/04.EG03).
References
Abou-Mesalam, M. M. (2003). “Sorption kinetics of copper, zinc, cadmium and nickel ions on synthesized silico-antimonate ion exchanger.” Colloids Surf., A, 225, 85–94.
Ahmedna, M., Marshall, W. E., and Rao, R. M. (2000). “Production of granular activated carbons from select agricultural by-products and evaluation of their physical, chemical and adsorption properties.” Bioresour. Technol., 71, 113–123.
Atamny, F., et al. (1992). “Surface chemistry of carbon: Activation of molecular oxygen: Surface science and spectroscopy.” Mol. Phys., 76, 851–857.
Bansal, R. C., Donnet, J. B., and Stoeckli, F. (1988). Active carbon, Marcel Dekker, New York.
Bansal, R. C., and Goyal, M. (2005). Activated carbon adsorption, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla.
Bellamy, L. J. (1954). The infrared spectra of complex molecules, Wiley, New York.
Biniak, S., Szymanski, G., Siedlewski, J., and Swiatkowski, A. (1997). “The characterization of activated carbons with oxygen and nitrogen surface groups.” Carbon, 35, 1799–1810.
Boehm, H. P. (1994). “Some aspects of the surface chemistry of carbon blacks and other carbons.” Carbon, 32, 759–769.
Boehm, H. P., Diehl, E., Heck, W., and Sappok, R. (1964). “Surface oxides of carbon.” Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl., 3, 669–677.
Corbridge, D. E. C. (1956). “Infrared analysis of phosphorous compounds.” J. Appl. Chem., 6, 456–465.
Daifullah, A. A. M., and Girgis, B. S. (1998). “Removal of some substituted phenols by activated carbon obtained from agricultural waste.” Water Res., 32, 1169–1177.
Darmstadt, H., Roy, C., and Kaliaguine, S. (1994). “ESCA characterization of commercial carbon blacks and of carbon blacks from vacuum pyrolysis of used tires.” Carbon, 32, 1399–1406.
Desimoni, E., Casella, G. I., Cataldi, T. R. I., Salvi, A. M., Rotunno, T., and Di Croce, E. (1992). “Remarks on the surface characterization of carbon fibres.” Surf. Interface Anal., 18, 623–630.
Diao, Y., Walawender, W. P., and Fan, L. T. (2002). “Activated carbons prepared from phosphoric acid activation of grain sorghum.” Bioresour. Technol., 81, 45–52.
Diaz-Diez, M. A., Gomez-Serrano, V., Gonzalez, C. F., Cuerda-Correa, E. M., and Macias-Garcia, A. (2004). “Porous texture of activated carbons prepared by phosphoric acid activation of woods.” Appl. Surf. Sci., 238, 309–313.
ETWB. (2003). Environment Hong Kong 2003—Waste, resource materials, and decision time, HKSAR, China.
Faria, P. C. C., Órfão, J. J. M., and Pereira, M. F. R. (2004). “Adsorption of anionic and cationic dyes on activated carbons with different surface chemistries.” Water Res., 38, 2043–2052.
Ferro-García, M. A., Rivera-Utrilla, J., Bautista-Toledo, I., and Moreno-Castilla, C. (2000). “Adsorption of humic substances on activated carbon from aqueous solutions and their effect on the removal of Cr(III) ions.” Langmuir, 14, 1880–1886.
Figueiredo, J. L., Pereira, M. F. R., Freitas, M. A. A., and Orfao, J. J. M. (1999). “Modification of surface chemistry of activated carbons.” Carbon, 37, 1379–1389.
Gergova, K., and Eser, S. (1996). “Effects of activation method on the pore structure of activated carbons from apricot stones.” Carbon, 34, 879–888.
Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department (HKEPD). (2005). Monitoring of solid waste in Hong Kong, waste statistics for 2005, HKSAR, China.
Juang, R. S., Wu, F. C., and Tseng, R. L. (2000). “Mechanism of adsorption of dyes and phenols from water using activated carbons prepared from plum kernels.” J. Colloid Interface Sci., 277, 437–444.
Kamath, S. R., and Proctor, A. (1998). “Silica gel from rice hull ash: Preparation and characterization.” Cereal Chem., 75, 484–487.
Kennedy, J., Mohan das, K., and Sekaran, G. (2004). “Integrated biological and catalytic oxidation of organics/inorganics in tannery wastewater by rice husk based mesoporous activated carbon—Bacillus sp.” Carbon, 42, 2399–2407.
Kozlowksi, C., and Sherwood, P. M. A. (1986). “X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies of carbon fiber surfaces. Part VII: Electrochemical treatment in ammonium salt electrolytes.” Carbon, 24, 357–363.
Laine, J., and Yunes, S. (1992). “Effect of the preparation method on pore size distribution of activated carbon from coconut shell.” Carbon, 30, 601–604.
Macias-Garcia, A., Diaz-Diez, M. A., Gomez-Serrano, V., and Fernandez-Gonzalez, M. C. (2003). “Technical note preparation and characterization of activated carbons made up from different woods by chemical activation with .” Smart Mater. Struct., 12, 24–28.
Marsh, H. (2001). Activated carbon compendium: A collection of papers from the journal carbon 1996–2000, Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Moreno-Castilla, C. (2004). “Adsorption of organic molecules from aqueous solutions on carbon materials.” Carbon, 42, 83–93.
Nagano, H., Tamon, T., Adzumi, K. N., and Suzuki, T. (2000). “Activated carbon from municipal waste.” Carbon, 38, 915–920.
Nakagawa, K., Namba, A., Mukai, S. R., Tamon, H., Ariyadejwanich, P., and Tanthapanichakoon, W. (2004). “Activated carbon form municipal waste.” Water Res., 38, 1791–1798.
Pendyal, B., Johns, M. M., Marshall, W. E., Ahmedna, M., and Rao, R. M. (1999). “The effect of binders and agricultural by-products on physical and chemical properties of granular activated carbons.” Bioresour. Technol., 68, 247–254.
Pereira, M. F. R., Soares, S. F., Orfao, J. J. M., and Figueiredo, J. L. (2003). “Adsorption of dyes on activated carbons: Influence of surface chemical groups.” Carbon, 41, 811–821.
Philip, C. A., and Girgis, B. S. (1996). “Adsorption characteristics of microporous carbons from apricot stones activated by phosphoric acid.” J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 67, 248–254.
Proctor, A., and Sherwood, P. M. A. (1983). “X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies of carbon fibre surfaces—II: The effect of electrochemical treatment.” Carbon, 21, 53–60.
Reis, M. J., Botelho, A. M., Rego, D., Lopes Da Silva, J. D., and Soares, M. N. (1995). “An XPS study of the fibre-matrix interface using sized carbon fibres as a model.” J. Mater. Sci., 30, 118–126.
Rozada, M., Otero, J. B., Parra, A. M., and García, A. I. (2005). “Producing adsorbents from sewage sludge and discarded tyres: Characterization and utilization for the removal of pollutants from water.” Chem. Eng. J., 114, 161–169.
Singh, B. N., and Rawat, N. S. (1994). “Comparative sorption equilibrium studies of toxic phenols on fly-ash and impregnated fly-ash.” J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 61, 307–317.
Socrates, G. (1994). Infrared characteristic group frequencies, Wiley, New York.
Sych, N. V., Kartel, N. T., Tsyba, N. N., and Strelko, V. V. (2005). “Effect of combined activation on the preparation of high porous active carbons from granulated post-consumer polyethyleneterephthalate.” Appl. Surf. Sci. 252(23), 8062–8066.
Tanthapanichakoon, W., Ariyadejwanich, P., Jathong, P., Nakagawa, K., Mukai, S. R., and Tamon, H. (2005). “Adsorption-desorption characteristics of phenol and reactive dyes from aqueous solution on mesoporous activated carbon prepared from waste tires.” Water Res., 39, 1347–1353.
Toles, C. A., Marshall, W. E., and Johns, M. M. (1998). “Phosphoric acid activation of nutshells for metals and organic remediation: Process optimization.” J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol., 72, 255–263
Toles, C. A., Marshall, W. E., and Johns, M. M. (1999). “Surface functional groups on acid-activated nutshell carbons.” Carbon, 37, 1207–1214.
Valdes, H., Sanchez-Polo, M., and Zaror, C. A. (2003). “Effect of ozonation on the activated carbon surface chemical properties and on 2-mercaptobenzothiazole adsorption.” Lat. Am. Appl. Res., 33, 219–223.
Zawadzki, J. (1989). “Infrared spectroscopy in surface chemistry of carbons.” Chemistry and physics of carbon, P. Thrower, ed., Vol. 21, Marcel Dekker, New York, 147–380.
Zhang, F. S., Nriagu, J. O., and Itoh, H. (2005). “Mercury removal from water using activated carbons derived from organic sewage sludge.” Water Res., 39, 389–395.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: May 25, 2006
Accepted: Oct 18, 2007
Published online: May 1, 2008
Published in print: May 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.