Removal of 2-chlorophenol using rice husk activated carbon prepared by ZnCl2/H3PO4 activation

Abstract

The rice husk, agricultural solid waste was successfully converted into activated carbon using mixture of chemical agents ZnCl2/H3PO4.Their properties including porous structures, surface functional groups and morphology structures were carefully studied. Applications of rice husk activated carbons were applied for removal of 2-chlorophenol in aqueous solution under different conditions. The nitrogen isotherm exhibits Type IV, and the presence of hysteresis loop clearly shows the predominantly mesoporous characteristics. The BET and Langmuir surface areas are 144.6 and 212.5 m2g-1, respectively. The equilibrium adsorptions for both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms show the best a regression coefficient closed to unity.The values of correlation coefficient R2 = 0.9976 represented the satisfactory pseudo-second-order model. The results show that rice husk activated carbon was effectively used as adsorbent for removal of 2-chlorophenol.