Attività

Preparation of activated carbon from biomass and its’ applications in water and gas purification

Due to its versatility and wide range of applications, activated carbon is widely used as contaminant removal media. Recent research have focused on

enhancing the effectiveness of activated carbon by modifying their specific properties in order to enable the carbon to develop affinity for certain

contaminants. In view of this, a comprehensive list of literatures on chemical, physical and biological modification techniques of activated carbon

pertaining to enhancement of contaminant removal from aqueous solutions was compiled and reviewed. Acidic treatment to introduce acidic functional groups

onto surface of coal based activated carbon was by far, the most studied

technique. It was apparent from the literature survey that the beneficial effects of specific modification techniques on activated carbon adsorption of

targeted contaminant species from aqueous solutions were profound, with some studies reported increase of contaminant uptake factors of more than 2.

Concurrently, considerable decreases associated with certain contaminant uptakes can also occur depending on the technique used.

Without pure water, it is impossible to survive for any living beings. The ratio of freshwater on our planet is very poor and the demand is increasing

with time for the growing population. Furthermore, water is being contaminated by industrial and agricultural activities, pharmaceuticals, technocratic

civilization, pesticides, garments, global changes etc. In addition to this, environmental pollution and global warming are swelling due to the greenhouse

and harmful gases generated from the dumping and burning of fossil fuel. Addressing these problems, it is necessary to find out the cost-effective and

environmental friendly processes to purify the contaminated water and air. Activated carbons (ACs) are one of the best solutions for removing the pollutants

from aqueous and atmosphere as it is the carbonaceous materials with a high degree of porosity, well-developed surface area, and distinguished functional

groups which are required for elimination of contaminants. The preparations of activated carbon are easy and safe processes, mainly from the pyrolysis or

gasification of biomass with heat and/or chemicals.