One Pot Synthesis of Carboxylated Activated Carbon for Water Purification: A Kinetic Study

Abstract

Modification of a carboxylated activated carbon was obtained by simple one pot heat treatment method. This carboxylated activated carbon was confirmed by its physical and chemical structure. The efficiency of this carboxylated activated carbon was evaluated for adsorption of Cu(II) and Pb(II) based on their kinetic parameters to understand their adsorption mechanism. The pseudo-second-order model was the best fitted to describe the adsorption behavior of Cu(II) and Pb(II) indicating that chemisorption process took place during the adsorption. The adsorption capacity of Cu(II) and Pb(II) of carboxylated activated carbon was higher, which was 0.726 and 1.312 mg g -1 , respectively for CAC and 1.093 and 1.160 mg g -1 , respectively for PAC, compared to pristine AC, which was 0.314 and 0.365 mg g -1 , respectively.