Abstract:
The ability of coconut shell based activated carbon to remove resorcinol (benzene -1 ,3 -
diol),a common pollutant from contaminated water has been investigated. Activated carbon
was produced using coconut shells as the raw material and phosphoric acid and steam as
the activating agents. The effects of process variables such as chemical activation
temperature, impregnation ratio (w/w%) between coconut shells and phosphoric acid and
soaking time on the product performance towards adsorption of resorcinol were
investigated. The adsorption of methylene blue on activated carbon was also studied for
comparison of the adsorption of both adsorbates. The amounts adsorbed were determined
using spectrophotometric method. The results were compared with the performance of
commercially available and steam activated carbon samples using the same adsorbates.
The activated carbon produced with soaking temperature 450 °C, impregnation ratio 80%
and soaking time 1 hour, exhibited the best performance towards both adsorbates giving 1.5 times higher adsorption amounts compared with the performance of other carbons
produced in this study. Acidic surface groups were established by Fourier Transmittance
infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) technique.
