Characteristics and methylene blue adsorption performance of activated carbon prepared from cattle-manure-compost by ZnCl_2 activation

摘要

The textural characteristics and surface chemistry were inspected for activated carbons (AC) prepared from cattle-manure-compost (CMC) by ZnCl_2 activation at 400 deg C for 1 h. Methylene blue (MB) adsorption in aqueous phase onto the prepared AC was conducted to examine the potential capability as water treatment adsorbents in practical use. Furthermore out-gassings in helium flow at 400 deg C and 900 deg C were performed to check the changes in carbon properties, N_2 adsorption-desorption, elemental analysis, pH of the point of zero charge (pH_(pzc)) measurement and Boehm titration were employed for characterization. The prepared AC's exhibited excellent performance for MB adsorption due to their wide surface, large mesopore volume and high nitrogen content. It was also clarified that the out-gassing treatment at 400 deg C affected little influence on the pore structure but significantly changed the surface chemical properties such as oxygen functional groups and pHpzc. The kinetics and capacity of MB adsorption were controlled by both bulk structure including surface area and pore distribution and surface chemistry of the graphene layer.