1-3-1 Preparation of activated carbon from coal waste for metals adsorption

抄録

Activated carbon was prepared from high ash Moatize coal waste by chemical activation through K₂CO₃ and K₂S impregnation and later tested for adsorption of Zn (II) and Cr (IV) ions from aqueous solution. The effect of activation agent, on BET surface area, pore size, pore volume and adsorption capacity were discussed. The activated carbon prepared by K₂CO₃ impregnation (AC) and sulfur-impregnated activated carbon (AC_S) show low specific surface area comparing to commercial activated carbon, being 500m²/g for AC, 250m²/g for AC_S and 1280m²/g for commercial activated carbon. However, adsorption tests from aqueous solution at 25°C, revealed that they equally exhibit good capacity on adsorbing Cr ions being 97.9% for AC and 99.8% for AC_S. Meanwhile, only the AC_S has an excellent capacity on adsorbing zinc ions, with the adsorption capacity reaching about 95.5%, over 23.6 % of AC and 60.5% of commercial AC.