Preparation of Powdered Activated Carbon Composite Material and Its Adsorption Performance and Mechanisms for Removing RhB

Abstract

For solving the problem of low efficiency about dyes and slow precipitation rate for powdered activated carbon (PAC), this study successfully prepares a kind of powdered activated carbon-based composites (PACMC) to remove Rhodamine B (RhB) in wastewater as an adsorbent. PACMC derived from potassium humate and polyaluminium chloride (PACl)-modified PAC were fabricated via a chemical precipitation method. We confirmed the micro-morphology and chemical composition of PACMC by scanning electron microscopy energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDS) and fourier infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), certifying that PACMC was synthesized by chemical reaction of raw materials. PACMC has layered porous structure and functional groups, which is beneficial to the transport and diffusion of RhB molecules. The specific surface area (10.098 m2·g−1) and average particle size (142.9 µm) of PACMC and the specific surface area (710.1 m2·g−1) and average particle size (11.9 µm) of PAC were measured. By comparison, it can be seen that PACMC has larger average particle size conducive to solid–liquid separation. The static adsorption experiments were carried out to investigate the adsorption properties of RhB by PACMC. The results showed that the adsorption capacity of PACMC for RhB was 2–3 times as high as that of PAC. The pH value of the solution had a significant effect on the adsorption of RhB by PACMC and the maximum adsorption was observed at pH = 4.5 (qe = 28.56 mg·g−1, C0 = 40 mg·L−1). The adsorption of RhB by PACMC can be well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetics. The kinetic results revealed that the adsorption process involved several steps, where the chemical adsorption and intra-particle diffusion both played the important roles. The isothermal adsorption data were in accordance with the Dubinin–Radushkevich model, which indicated that the adsorption was dominated by the chemisorption mechanism. Therefore, the adsorption mechanisms included chemical binding/chelation effect and electrostatic adsorption effect.