Single-step pyrolysis for producing activated carbon from sucrose and its properties for methylene blue removal in aqueous solution

Abstract

Herein, activated carbon was prepared from sucrose, renewable carbon precursor by chemical activation method. Chemical activation process was carried out with KOH at 750 °C. The effects of chemical activation on the structure and morphology of activated carbon products were evaluated using TGA, BET, SEM, FT-IR, and zeta potential techniques. As a result of the activation process, the activated carbon having microporous (1.138 cm3 g-1) with high specific surface area (2116.42 m2 g-1) was obtained. The potential of using activated carbon as an adsorbent for removal of methylene blue in water was investigated under several experimental conditions. Langmuir adsorption capacity for methylene blue is 1666.66 mg g-1 and its higher adsorption capacity than other adsorbents. Regeneration studies have shown that the activated carbon can also be used at least ten times for the removal of methylene blue with no change in its adsorption capacity. The performance was tested on real textile wastewater.