Production and characterization of activated carbon prepared from safflower seed cake biochar and its ability to absorb reactive dyestuff

The use of activated carbon obtained from biochar for the removal of reactive dyestuff from aqueous solutions at various contact times, pHs and temperatures was investigated. The biochar was chemically modified with potassium hydroxide. The surface area and micropore volume of activated carbon was 1277 m(2)/g and 0.4952 cm(3)/g, respectively. The surface characterization of both biochar and activated carbon was undertaken using by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The experimental data indicated that the adsorption isotherms are well described by the Dubinin-Radushkevich (DR) isotherm equation. The adsorption kinetics of reactive dyestuff obeys the pseudo second-order kinetic model. The thermodynamic parameters such as Delta G degrees, Delta H degrees and Delta S degrees were calculated to estimate the nature of adsorption. The activation energy of the system was calculated as 1.12 kJ/mol. According to these results, prepared activated carbon could be used as a low-cost adsorbent to compare with the commercial activated carbon for the removal reactive dyestuff from wastewater. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.