Adsorption of Cu(II) Ions on Areca Catechu Stem-Based Activated Carbon: Optimization Using Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

This study proposes an optimization of Cu(II) ions adsorption from aqueous solution on activated carbon based on a response surface methodology. It has been prepared using Areca Catechu stem. Box Behnken method using Design Expert application has resulted in 29 runs of Cu(II) adsorption experiments. The Cu(II) ions adsorption has fitted very well with the pseudo first-order kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models. The experiment result has been based on the analysis of variance four independent variables of the initial concentration of Cu(II) ions, activator concentration, adsorption temperature and pH with the response variable of adsorption capacity. Validation of quadratic polynomial model obtained has been done with the correlation coefficient, R2 value being 0,998. Optimization has been done by maximizing the concentration of Cu(II) ions at 1000 mg/l, and setting the activator concentration, adsorption temperature and pH at 0.5 M, 45 °C and 5, respectively. As a result, the optimized Cu(II) ions adsorption capacity by Areca Catechu stem-based activated carbon obtained has been approximately 68.093 mg/g.