Synthesis of activated carbon from macadamia nutshells activated by H2SO4 and K2CO3 for methylene blue removal in water

Abstract

Macadamia nutshell is a new absorbent material for wastewater treatment. This work is a report on the synthesis of activated carbon as an absorbent materials prepared from macadamia nutshells using H2SO4 and K2CO3 as activating agents for methylene blue (MB) removal in water. The results show that MB adsorption capacity reaches its highest at 250.22 mg/g in preparation conditions H2SO4:coke 1:1 after 45 min calcination time when using a H2SO4 agent. The MB adsorption capacity of the absorbent using the K2CO3 agent reaches the highest at 261.52 mg/g in preparation conditions K2CO3:coke 1:1 and 60 min calcination time. Activated carbon prepared from macadamia nutshells activated by H2SO4 agents achieved the best MB removal efficiency of 67.29% in optimal conditions at a dose of 1 g/L with a treatment time of 60 min. The K2CO3agent achieved the best MB removal efficiency of 98.55% in optimal conditions at a dose of 0.5 g/L at a treatment time of 45 min. Macadamia nutshells are a potential new material to prepare the activated carbon in order to remove toxic organic compounds in wastewater.