High surface area activated carbon derived from chitin for efficient adsorption of Crystal Violet

Abstract

High surface area carbons materials were prepared by a process of carbonization followed by chemical activation of biomass resources of chitin. The characterization of the carbon material was done using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), N2 adsorption/desorption, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Elemental Analyzer and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The absorption of the carbon material was studied as kinetically and thermodynamically for the removal of cationic dye, Crystal Violet (CV) from wastewater. The results showed that KOH-activated samples with high BET surface area (2186.3 m2 g−1) and total pore volume (0.9815 cm3/g). In some case, the samples are suitable for CV removal for a large range of pH and the removal efficiency is close to 100%. The adsorption process was found to follow pseudo-second order kinetics and Langmuir models. In addition, between 25 and 45 °C, the monolayer maximum adsorption capacity significantly increased and the maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 331.406, 399.943 and 420.068 mg g−1 at 25 °C, 35 °C and 45 °C, respectively.