Preparation and characterization of activated carbon from pine cone by microwave-induced ZnCl2 activation and its effects on the adsorption of methylene blue

Abstract

In this work, activated carbon prepared from pine cone (PCAC) with ZnCl2 as an activation agent under microwave radiation was investigated. The activation step was performed at the microwave input power of 400 W and radiation time of 5 min. The properties of activated carbon were characterized by N2 adsorption Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Results showed that the BET surface area, Langmuir surface area, and total pore volume of PCAC were 939, 1,486 m2/g and 0.172 cm3/g, respectively. Adsorption capacity was demonstrated by the iodine numbers. The adsorptive property of PCAC was tested using methylene blue dye. Equilibrium data was best fitted by the Langmuir isotherm model, showing a monolayer adsorption capacity of 60.97 mg/g. The pseudo-first- and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were examined to evaluate the kinetic data, and the rate constants were calculated. Adsorption of the dyes followed pseudo-first order kinetics. Thermodynamic parameters such as free energy, enthalpy and entropy of dye adsorption were obtained.