Influence of Orthophosphoric Acid Activation on the Quality of Activated Carbons

Abstract

Activated carbon (AC) is an adsorbent material used for the removal of pollutants from wastewater. Unfortunately, these materials used by the industry are very expensive. This is why research is being conducted to produce low-cost activated carbons from natural biomass. The objective of this work is to study the effect of activation by orthophosphoric acid on the quality of activated carbons. The different techniques used for the characterization are: the Iodine number and the Methylene Blue Index. For activated carbons prepared in a single activation step, iodine number of 609.12 and methylene blue value of 102.48 mg/g were obtained. For those prepared in two activation steps, iodine number of 951.75 mg/g and methylene blue value of 115.14 mg/g were obtained.