Title: Effect of microwave treatment onto activated carbon produced from pecan nut shells for Tartrazine removal from aqueous media

Authors: Jonatan Torres-Pérez; Gabriela Muñoz-Armenta; Simón Yobanny Réyes-López

Addresses: Departamento Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas (ICB), Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez-UACJ, Anillo Envolvente del Pronaf y Estocolmo s/n, Zona Pronaf, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, C.P. 32310, México ' Departamento Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas (ICB), Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez-UACJ, Anillo Envolvente del Pronaf y Estocolmo s/n, Zona Pronaf, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, C.P. 32310, México ' Departamento Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas (ICB), Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez-UACJ, Anillo Envolvente del Pronaf y Estocolmo s/n, Zona Pronaf, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, C.P. 32310, México

Abstract: The processes used to fabricate carbonaceous materials with sorption capacity are expensive and require the exploitation of natural resources. The use of microwave treatment for activated carbons is an innovative and cheaper method than traditional chemical activation. To develop a sustainable carbonaceous material with sorption properties, the present study used four methods to prepare activated carbon using pecan nut shells, an agricultural waste, as an alternative precursor instead of conventional materials such as coconut shells or wood. The preparation methods were: carbonisation (NAC), carbonisation/water activation (NAC-H2O), carbonisation/microwave treatment (NAC-MW) and carbonisation/activation/microwave treatment (NAC-H2O-MW). The prepared material was characterised by pHPZC and total ash content determination, BET surface area analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The sorption equilibrium time for the Tartrazine dye sorption was determined. The prepared activated carbons that presented the best sorption capacity were NAC-H2O (8.2 mg/g) and NAC-MW (5.1 mg/g); the sorption equilibrium time was 24 h for both materials. The sorption experiments showed a good fitting to pseudo second order equation and to Freundlich model.

Keywords: activated carbon; microwave activation; Tartrazine; pecan nut shells; adsorption.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2018.097866

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2018 Vol.63 No.4, pp.298 - 319

Accepted: 25 Oct 2018
Published online: 20 Feb 2019 *

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