scholarly journals Waste biomass as sources for activated carbon production-A review

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
MS Islam ◽  
MA Rouf

A review of the production of activated carbons from waste biomass has been presented. The effects of various process parameters on the pyrolysis stage have been reviewed. Influences of activating conditions, physical and chemical, on the active carbon properties have been discussed. Under certain process conditions several active carbons with BET surface areas, ranging between 250 and 2410 m2/g and pore volumes of 0.022 and 91.4 cm3/g, have been produced. A comparison in characteristics and uses of activated carbons from waste biomass with those of commercial carbons has been made. Waste biomass being highly efficient, low cost and renewable sources of activated carbon production. Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 47(4), 347-364, 2012 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v47i4.14064

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-31
Author(s):  
Phung Thi Kim Le ◽  
Kien Anh Le

Agricultural wastes are considered to be a very important feedstock for activated carbon production as they are renewable sources and low cost materials. This study present the optimize conditions for preparation of durian peel activated carbon (DPAC) for removal of methylene blue (MB) from synthetic effluents. The effects of carbonization temperature (from 673K to 923K) and impregnation ratio (from 0.2 to 1.0) with potassium hydroxide KOH on the yield, surface area and the dye adsorbed capacity of the activated carbons were investigated. The dye removal capacity was evaluated with methylene blue. In comparison with the commercial grade carbons, the activated carbons from durian peel showed considerably higher surface area especially in the suitable temperate and impregnation ratio of activated carbon production. Methylene blue removal capacity appeared to be comparable to commercial products; it shows the potential of durian peel as a biomass source to produce adsorbents for waste water treatment and other application. Optimize condition for preparation of DPAC determined by using response surface methodology was at temperature 760 K and IR 1.0 which resulted the yield (51%), surface area (786 m2/g), and MB removal (172 mg/g).


Author(s):  
Iheanacho Chamberlain Ositadinma ◽  
Nwabanne Joseph Tagbo ◽  
Onu Chijioke Elijah

Aim: The determination of optimum process parameters in the production of activated carbon from rice husk for the uptake of phenol from aqueous solution was the focus of this work. Study Design: The optimization was designed using response surface methodology. Methodology: Central composite design (CCD) was used to generate the design matrix and analyze the result obtained. Carbonization temperature, percentage acid concentration and carbonization time were the factors considered. Tetraoxophosphoric acid (H3PO4) was employed in the activation process. The surface area was determined using the Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) nitrogen adsorption method. Results: The result indicated the optimum process conditions as carbonization temperature of 575ºC, time of 240 minutes and 45 percentage acid concentration. This gave 96.5% adsorption efficiency of phenol from aqueous solution. There was good agreement between the experimental values and the predicted values. The BET surface area of the activated carbon was 471.1 m2/s. Conclusion: This work has optimized the process conditions for activated carbon production from rice husk for effective adsorption of phenol from wastewater.


2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajeshwar M. Shrestha ◽  
Margit Varga ◽  
Imre Varga ◽  
Amar P. Yadav ◽  
Bhadra P. Pokharel ◽  
...  

Activated carbons were prepared from Lapsi seed stone by the treatment with H2SO4 and HNO3 for the removal of Ni (II) ions from aqueous solution. Two activated carbon have been prepared from Lapsi seed stones by treating with conc.H2SO4 and a mixture of H2SO4 and HNO3 in the ratio of 1:1 by weight for removal of Ni(II) ions. Chemical characterization of the resultant activated carbons was studied by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Boehm titration which revealed the presence of oxygen containing surface functional groups like carboxyl, lactones and phenols in the carbons. The optimum pH for nickel adsorption is found to be 5. The adsorption data were better fitted with the Langmuir equations than Freundlich adsorption equation to describe the equilibrium isotherms. The maximum adsorption capacity of Ni (II) on the resultant activated carbons was 28.25.8 mg g-1 with H2SO4 and 69.49 mg g-1 with a mixture of H2SO4 and HNO3. The waste material used in the preparation of the activated carbons is inexpensive and readily available. Hence the carbons prepared from Lapsi seed stones can act as potential low cost adsorbents for the removal of Ni (II) from water. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jie.v9i1.10680Journal of the Institute of Engineering, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 166–174


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad M. Diémé ◽  
Maxime Hervy ◽  
Saïdou N. Diop ◽  
Claire Gérente ◽  
Audrey Villot ◽  
...  

<p>The objective of this study was to investigate the production of activated carbons (AC) from cashew shells, and millet stalks and their efficiency in fluoride retention. These agricultural residues are collected from Senegal. It is known that some regions of Sénégal, commonly called the groundnut basin, are affected by a public health problem caused by an excess of fluoride in drinking water used by these populations. The activated carbons were produced by a combined pyrolysis and activation with water steam; no other chemical compounds were added. Then, activated carbonaceous materials obtained from cashew shells and millet stalks were called CS-H<sub>2</sub>O and MS-H<sub>2</sub>O respectively. CS-H<sub>2</sub>O and MS-H<sub>2</sub>O show very good adsorbent features, and present carbon content ranges between 71 % and 86 %. The BET surface areas are 942 m² g<sup>-1</sup> and 1234 m².g<sup>-1</sup> for CS-H<sub>2</sub>O and MS-H<sub>2</sub>O respectively. A third activated carbon produced from food wastes and coagulation-flocculation sludge (FW/CFS-H<sub>2</sub>O) was produced in the same conditions. Carbon and calcium content of FW/CFS-H<sub>2</sub>O are 32.6 and 39.3 % respectively. The kinetics sorption were performed with all these activated carbons, then the pseudo-first equation was used to describe the kinetics sorption. Fluoride adsorption isotherms were performed with synthetic and natural water with the best activated carbon from kinetics sorption, Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to describe the experimental data. The results showed that carbonaceous materials obtained from CS-H<sub>2</sub>O and MS-H<sub>2</sub>O were weakly efficient for fluoride removal. With FW/CFS-H<sub>2</sub>O, the adsorption capacity is 28.48 mg.g<sup>-1 </sup>with r² = 0.99 with synthetic water.</p>


Author(s):  
Sharmin Akter ◽  
Ferdousi Sultana ◽  
Md. Rakibul Kabir ◽  
Partha Pratim Brahma ◽  
Atkeeya Tasneem ◽  
...  

Pharmaceutical industries in Bangladesh are considered as one major industrial as well as environmental pollution problems which discharge a significant amount of organic contaminants in the environment hence require advanced treatment technologies to decontaminate pharmaceutical wastewater. In the present investigation, areca nut husk treated activated carbon (ANHC) was used as an adsorbent to remove chemical oxygen demand (COD) from pharmaceutical effluent as well as a comparative adsorption efficiency with commercial activated carbon (CAC) was performed.  The batch experiments were carried out in a laboratory scale. The materials also evaluated for different adsorbent dosages and contact times. The experiment revealed a removal percentage up to 70% for ANHC and 90% for CAC for 3g of adsorbents in 180 min. The adsorption processes were satisfactorily described by pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetic model which shows a better fitting with the maximum regression coefficient for both adsorbents. The results show that Langmuir model best described the experimental data with a highest correlation coefficient (R2=0.9856 for ANHC and 0.9993 for CAC) compared to Freundlich model and the experimental data showed asorption capacity of 36.549 and 64.935 mg/g for ANHC and CAC, correspondingly. According to the adsorption studies, the results revealed that COD adsorption process followed by the monolayer chemisorption mechanisms. The results revealed that ANHC adsorbent is potentially low cost and environmental friendly adsorbent for the removal of organic matter from pharmaceutical effluent.


Author(s):  
Victor Odhiambo Shikuku ◽  
Wilfrida N. Nyairo ◽  
Chrispin O. Kowenje

Biochars have been extensively applied in soil remediation, carbon sequestration, and in climate change mitigation. However, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in biochar research in water treatment due to their stupendous adsorptive properties for various contaminants. This is attributed to their large surface areas, pore structures, chemical compositions, and low capital costs involved making them suitable candidates for replacing activated carbons. This chapter discusses the preparation methods and properties of biochars and their removal efficacy for organic contaminants and microbial control. Factors affecting adsorption and the mechanisms of adsorption of organic pollutants on biochars are also concisely discussed. Biochars present environmentally benign and low-cost adsorbents for removal of both organic pollutants and microbial control for wastewater purification systems.


2008 ◽  
Vol 368-372 ◽  
pp. 1541-1544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua Lei Zhou ◽  
Dong Yan Li ◽  
Guo Zhuo Gong ◽  
Ya Jun Tian ◽  
Yun Fa Chen

Activated carbon was employed as the adsorption carrier for the metal ions in HCl solution of red mud, a solid waste produced in alumina industry. To improve the adsorption capacity to valuable metal ions, the activated carbon was modified by chemicals including HNO3, H2O2, H2SO4, H3PO4, NH3, Na2CO3, and tri-butyl phosphate (TBP). It was found that the modifications contributed the high adsorption capacity to almost all metal ions we focused on. In the case of TBP, remarkably higher adsorption capacity and selectivity of Sc3+ was observed. The correlation between the surface areas, IR spectra of those chemically modified activated carbons and adsorption was schemed.


Author(s):  
Mohan Rao T. ◽  
K. Rajesh Kumar ◽  
G. Shyamala ◽  
R. Gobinath

With the growth of urbanization and industrialization, water bodies are getting polluted. Among various pollutants, phenol-based pollutants are common water pollutions which originate from wastewater discharged from processing manufacturing industries like petrochemical refineries, ceramic plants, textile processing, leather processing, synthetic rubbers, etc. These pollutants are toxic and have long-term ill effects on both humans and aquatic animals. Adsorption is well proven technique which is widely used for removal of pollutions from aqueous environments. But this process, is hindered due to the cost of adsorbents especially for large scale continuous processes. In this regard, adsorbents derived from waste biomass can be a great asset to reduce the cost of wastewater treatment. To meet this objective, coconut shells are chosen as biomass which is abundantly available from south east Asia. This biomass is converted into activated carbon and hence used to remove phenol from wastewater. Batch adsorption experiments were performed with different initial concentration, carbon dosage, pH and contact time. At a lower concentration of 50 mg/L of initial feed (phenol) concentration resulted in around 90% phenol removal and henceforth optimum results in phenol removal obtained in only 64%. Experimental results are in good agreement with Langmuir adsorption isotherm model and have shown a better fitting to the experimental data. These studies confirm that the coconut shell-based activated carbon could be used to effectively adsorb phenol from aqueous solutions.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 265-270
Author(s):  
R. McCallum ◽  
F. Roddick ◽  
M. Hobday

Water treatment authorities use activated carbon as the best available technology to remove low molecular weight organic compounds from potable water. In Australia, pollutants of concern include secondary metabolites from bacterial and cyanobacterial blooms which are highly odorous and, in some cases, toxic. Of these compounds, 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) is one of the most common and its unpleasant musty earthy odour can be detected at or above approximately 10 ng/L. Difficulties in using activated carbon to target such small organic compounds arise when the water has high concentrations of natural organic matter (NOM), as these compounds also adsorb on activated carbon. The adsorption of NOM on activated carbon increases the cost of using this material in water treatment due to competition with the target organic compounds, reducing the capacity of the activated carbon for the latter. The surface of activated carbon can be tailored during production to provide physical and chemical characteristics that can either aid or hinder the adsorption of particular compounds. One source of activated carbon currently under investigation at RMIT University is brown coal char waste from power stations. This waste, currently disposed of to landfill, is potentially an option for activated carbon production. This material has the advantage that it has already been carbonised at around 500°C in the power generation process. This means that less energy is required to produce activated carbon from power station char compared to coal, making the final product cheaper to produce. Previous work at RMIT has shown that steam activated power station char can remove organic compounds from water. Production of a range of activated carbons from power station char (PSC) was undertaken using different activation methods, including steam activation, steam activation with acid pre-treatment, alkali heat treatment, and Lewis acid heat treatment. The different activation methods produced activated carbons with different pore size distributions, in particular, the acid pre-treatment increased the surface area and porosity significantly compared with steam activation, and the alkali treatment increased the microporosity. Adsorption of MIB on these activated carbons was evaluated to determine the relationship between physical and chemical interactions of the activated carbon and adsorption. Adsorption of MIB on these activated carbons was found to be dependent on the secondary micropore volume. Lewis acid treatment and alkali treatment was not involved in the generation of many of these secondary pores, hence carbons from these treatments did not perform well in adsorption tests. The best adsorption results were achieved with steam activated or acid treated steam activated samples which performed comparably to commercial products. Initial results showed that competition from NOM adsorption was lowest with the PSC activated carbons, allowing greater adsorption of MIB, compared with the commercial activated carbons.


2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Arifur Rahman ◽  
S. M. Ruhul Amin ◽  
A. M. Shafiqul Alam

The possible utilization of rice husk activated carbon as an adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue dye from aqueous solutions has been investigated. In this study, activated carbons, prepared from low-cost rice husk by sulfuric acid and zinc chloride activation, were used as the adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue, a basic dye, from aqueous solutions. Effects of various experimental parameters, such as adsorbent dosage and particle size, initial dye concentration, pH and flow rate were investigated in column process. The maximum uptakes of methylene blue by activated rice husk carbon at optimized conditions (particle sizes: 140 ?m; Flow rate: 1.4 mL/min; pH: 10.0; initial volume of methylene blue: 50 mL and initial concentration of methylene blue: 4.0 mg/L etc.) were found to 97.15%. The results indicate that activated carbon of rice husk could be employed as low-cost alternatives to commercial activated carbon in waste water treatment for the removal of basic dyes. This low cost and effective removal method may provide a promising solution for the removal of crystal violet dye from wastewater.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/dujs.v60i2.11491 Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 60(2): 185-189, 2012 (July)


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