Preparation and properties of buckwheat shell-based activated carbon

Inordertorealizetheutilizationofsolidwasteresource.Anoveladsorbent,buckwheatshellbasedactivatedcarbonhasbeendevelopedbychemicalactivationwhenapplyingwastebuckwheathull asthrawmaterial.Theauthorsoptimizedtheactivationtemperature,activationtime,typeofactivator, massratioofbuckwheathullandactivatorinthepreparationprocessthroughsinglefactormethod.The adsorptionefficiencyoftheoptimizedbuckwheat-shellactivatedcarbonwasinvestigatedbyiodinevalue andmethylenebluevalue.Porestructure,microcrystallinestructureandmicro-surfacemorphologyofactivatedcarbonwerecharacterizedbygasadsorptioninstrument,X-raydiffractionandscanningelectron microscopy.Theresultsshowedthattheoptimizedbuckwheatshell-basedactivatedcarbonexhibitedthe highestadsorption capacity when applying phosphoric acid as the activator,the activation time of 90min,activationtemperatureof500℃,massratioofbuckwheatshellandactivatoris1∶3.Theiodinevalue and methylene blue value of the optimized buckwheat shell-based activated carbon were 765.8mg/gand222.2mg/grespectively,andthemethylenebluevalueoftheoptimizedbuckwheat
shell-basedactivatedcarbonwashigherthanthatofthethreecommercialactivatedcarbons.Moreover, the optimized buckwheat shell-based activated carbon hosted the highest mesopore percentage (96.8%)andhighertotalporevolume(0.666cm3/ g)thanthatofthecoal-basedandcoconutshell activatedcarbons,andtheBETsurfacearea(785.3m2/ g)wassimilartothecommercialactivatedcarbons,indicatingthatanovelbuckwheatshell-basedactivatedcarbonwithstrongmesopore,highadsorptioncapacityhasbeendevelopedwhenapplyingwastebuckwheathullasrawmaterialandphosphateas theactivator.