Adsorption properties of activated carbon from reed with a high adsorption capacity

Activated carbon with a high adsorption capacity was prepared using reed from the Yellow River Delta of China as a low-cost raw material. The adsorption-desorption behavior of methylene blue (MB) onto the reed activated carbon (RAC) was studied in detail. The structure of RAC was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and nitrogen adsorption analysis. Based on a good fitting with the Langmuir isotherm model, and pseudo second-order kinetics, the adsorption behavior of MB on RAC can be considered mainly to be the monolayer adsorption process, and is related to the chemical functional groups on the surface of carbon. The maximum adsorption capacity of RAC obtained from the Langmuir isotherm equation at 30 degrees C is 704.23 mg/g. The high adsorption capacity can be attributed to its low polarity, numerous types of surface functional groups, high surface area and pore volume, and a hierarchal porous structure. The regenerating rate of the spent RAC saturated with MB was 85.15% after one regeneration cycle, indicating a good potential for commercial applications. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.