Issue 47, 2018

Fast removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution using coal-based activated carbon

Abstract

Coal-based activated carbons (CACs) were prepared from three long flame coals with different ash and volatile matter content. CACs prepared by coal with high ash (6.74%) and volatile matter content (34.31%) showed better adsorption efficiency towards MB (547.35 mg g−1) due to higher surface area and pore volume. The effect of coal to activating agent ratio (CAR) was also investigated in a batch reactor. The porosity development is closely related to the CAR. The calculated monolayer adsorption amount (714.29 mg g−1) was found on YLC-AC-3 with a surface area of 1212.50 m2 g−1. The equilibrium data were favorably described by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models, and adsorption kinetics fitted well to the pseudo-second order model. The removal efficiency remains at 98.21% after five runs. The results of the present study suggest that CACs are potential and effective adsorbents in fast removal of dyes from aqueous solution.

Graphical abstract: Fast removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution using coal-based activated carbon

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 May 2018
Accepted
23 Jul 2018
First published
30 Jul 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 26978-26986

Fast removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution using coal-based activated carbon

T. Niu, J. Zhou, C. Zhang and S. Li, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 26978 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA04396E

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