Effect of Acidic treatment on metal adsorptions of Sugarcane bagasse based Activated Carbon

Abstract

This paper discusses the technical feasibility of commercial sugarcane bagasse based activated carbon (SBAC) and chemically treated SBAC for Cu (II) removal. A batch wise process using simulated wastewater was developed. SBAC with particle size 1mm-2mm containing 4.8 wt % ashes was treated with a mixture of aqueous hydrofluoric acid (HF) and nitric acid (HNO3). The ash content was reduced to 0.3 wt % respectively. Modified adsorbent were physically and chemically characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), BET surface area analysis and Boehm’s titration. The BET analysis shows that chemically modified SBAC can reach the surface area of 1120 m2/g from non- treated SBAC that is 837 m2/g. Equilibrium results on adsorption of Cu2+ showed that chemically treated SBAC increased the adsorption capacity up to 39.06 mg Cu/g, which was 50% higher than the untreated carbon. Thus, this revealed that the adsorption capacity of metal ions increased on the chemically treated SBAC compared to non-treated SBAC, suggesting that surface modification of a carbon adsorbent by acidic treatment generates more adsorption sites on their solid surface for metal adsorption.