ACTIVATED CARBON FROM BAMBOO (<i>Bambusa vulgaris</i>) FOR METHYLENE BLUE REMOVAL: PREDICTION TO THE ENVIRONMENT APPLICATIONS

Abstract

The bamboo was used as a raw material for producing activated carbon (AC) through simultaneous direct physical-chemical activation by using phosphoric acid (H3PO4) and water steam (H2O) as activating agents at 500ºC for 1 hour. Adsorption kinetic and equilibrium studies at batch system were realized at room temperature to evaluate the adsorption influence of the methylene blue dye (MB) over the AC and the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms systems were selected for understanding the adsorption process. The produced AC showed a relatively high value of surface area equal to 1193.65 m² g-1. The required contact time for the MB to reach equilibrium was 12 hours. The adsorption performance was better delineated by the Langmuir isotherm, which maximum adsorption capacity was of 374.75 mg g-1. In addition, the RL dimensionless factor reveled the favorable nature of the adsorption process in the used conditions. Thereby, the high quality and low cost AC production was validated in this work and the results herein obtained suggests the use of the H3PO4/H2O AC for MB dye removal in water. Finally, complementary researches must be conducted to improve, even more, the quality of the produced AC.