Comparative Adsorption Capacity of Modified Activated Carbon From Pennisetum Glaucum and
Comparative Adsorption Capacity of Modified Activated Carbon From Pennisetum Glaucum and
Comparative Adsorption Capacity of Modified Activated Carbon From Pennisetum Glaucum and
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ISSN (Online): 2347-3878, Impact Factor (2015): 3.791
Abstract: The influence of surface modification of activated carbons prepared from straws of Pennisetum glaucum (millet)
and Sorghum bicolor (sorghum) with nitric acid and sodium hydroxide showed excellent improvement in their surface
characteristics. The effects of the oxidizing treatments on the surface area pore dimension and surface chemical characteristics were analyzed by means of iodine adsorption, Fourier Transform Infrared and Scanning Electron Microscopy analyses. Results obtained showed that modification with nitric acid increased the adsorptive capacity of the activated carbon
samples to a greater extent compared to sodium hydroxide.
Keywords: Pennisetun glaucum, Sorghum bicolor, surface chemical modification, adsorptive capacity
1. Introduction
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2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
hrs and then washed several times with distilled water. The
(85 %) Nitric acid (69 %), Acetic acid (99.7 %) Ascorbic acid
(94.5 %), Hydrochloric acid (35.4 %), Sodium hydroxide
(99.0 %) Formic acid (90 %) and potassium hydroxide (90 %) sodium hydroxide was added and soaked for 24 hrs. The rewere all of analytical grade.
sidual sodium hydroxide was removed by soaking it in distilled water for 2 hrs and then washed several times with distilled water. The sample was then dried at 120 oC, cooled in a
2.2. Methods
500cm-1.
100
(1)
weight of precursor.
(2)
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The Freundich Isotherm model represented by Eq. 7 de2.2.5. Batch Adsorption Experiment and Adsorption Iso-
therm of I2
sorption [7].
ed into the different flasks and the flasks were shaken using
the Griffin flask shaker to achieve equilibrium. The adsorp-
stants KF and
Log qe = log KF +
log Ce
(8)
The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms models were employed to determine the relationship between the amount of
broad and intense peak of O-H stretching vibrating of hydroxyl groups of alcohols, phenols or absorbed water at
3414.12 & 3444.98 cm-1 for the millet and sorghum straws
using Eq 3
modified samples.
The SEM micrographs of the activated carbons are shown in
(5)
Figures 1 a-f more open structures are exhibited in the modified activated carbon samples than the unmodified activated
carbons, caused by the collapse of the micropores and creation
of macropores which may be due to the introduction of oxy-
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sorption of cadmium ions from aqueous solution. The adsorption of Perchlorate (ClO4-) from aqueous solution was
examined with ammonia treated activated carbon by [6]; the
researchers noted that higher adsorption capacity for perchlorate was achieved without undermining the pore structure.
3.3. Effect of Contact Time
The effect of contact time on I2 adsorption efficiency using the
modified activated carbons showed that about 80 % of I2 was
absorbed by millet straw activated carbon while 72 % of I2 was
absorbed by sorghum straw activated carbon within 1 hr,
while about 89 % of I2 was absorbed by millet straw and 77 %
of I2 was observed by sorghum straw after 2 hrs.
(c) nitric acid modified millet straw activated carbon, (d) nitric
aqueous solution. Another report [11] showed that the incorporation of acidic oxygen functional groups into activated
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4. Conclusion
vated carbon produced from Pennisetum glaucum and Sorghum bicolor. SEM images and FTIR analysis showed in-
modification, but the best results was obtained for the nitric
found to be greater than zero but less than 1 indicating that all
precursors studied, nitric acid modified sorghum straw activated (MSS) apparently absorbed higher amount iodine
(IN=911.2 mg/g).
Table 1: Iodine Number (IN) Values of Unmodified and Modified Activated Carbon
Unmodified Activated
carbon
Modified Activated
carbon
Modifying Agents
(2.0 M)
UMS
689.3
MMS
HNO3
NaOH
USS
565.4
MSS
HNO3
NaOH
Key:
UMS Unmodified Millet Straw Activated Carbon, USS- Unmodified Sorghum Straw Activated Carbon.
MMS Modified Millet Straw Activated Carbon, MSS- Modified Sorghum Straw Activated Carbon.
Table 2: Freundlich and Langmuir Parameters for Adsorption of Iodine unto Modified and Unmodified Activated Carbon
Activated
Carbon
MMS
MSS
UMS
USS
Freundlich parameters
n Kf
0.382 2.62 5.90
0.4 2.5 4.94
0.302 3.31 3.60
0.312 3.21 2.838
Langmuir parameters
Qo K RL
50.0 5.03 x 10-2 2.95 x10-2
47.62 4.56 x 10-2 3.34 x 10-2
2.976 0.316 4.936 x10-3
3.311 0.239 6.515x10-3
References
Correlation coefficients
Freundlich Langmuir (R2)
0.964 0.732
0.973 0.716
0.759 0.758
0.828 0.829
581-590.
[7] Freundlich, H. M. F. (1906) Over the Adsorption in Solutions. J. Phys. Chem. 57:385-471
[8] Fuller, M. P., Ritter G. L. and Drapper, C. S. (1988) Partial Least Squares Quantitative Analysis of Infrared
Spectroscopic Data Part II: Application to Detergent
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[9] Hj Ismail, M.G., Weng, C. N., Abdulrahman, H. and Zakaria, N. A. (2013) Freundlich Isotherm Equilibrium
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