An Investigation on the Attack of Dye Species on Freshly Synthesized and Characterized Activated Carbon from Cocoa Pod

Activated carbon (AC) was synthesized from raw cocoa pod (RCP) by three activation methods; physical (CPC), chemical (Z CPC, zinc chloride) and microwave activation (MW-CPC). The synthesized AC was characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic technique (FT-IR), thermal analysis and differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA), atomic absorption spectroscopic technique (AAS)  and flame photometer instrument. The characterization data reveals that microwave activated carbon having good adsorbent character than physical and chemical activated carbon. Adsorption of malachite green on CPC, Z CPC and MW-CPC were studied at various experimental condition. Freundlich adsorption isotherm model holds good for the adsorption process. The mechanism of adsorption followed the second order kinetics. Thermodynamics of adsorption were studied. The amount of dye adsorbed onto activated carbons varies in the order MW-CPC (29.3632mg/g) > CPC (29.3537mg/g) > Z CPC (27.9905mg/g).