Evaluation of Carbonaceous Material Produced from Fireproofed Cottonand Its Adsorption of Methylene Blue

We report herein on the fabrication of carbonaceous material produced from cotton treated with Tricresyl phosphate (TCP) for fireproofing and its evaluation for adsorbing Methylene blue (MB). We prepared two carbonaceous materials: cotton calcined at 900 degrees C (CT900) and cotton calcined at 900 degrees C with TCP (F-CT900). These materials were evaluated in terms of their scanning electron microscope images, specific surface area, pore volume, mean pore diameter, and solution pH. We found that the specific surface area of F-CT900 (1492 m(2)/g) is greater than that of CT900 (910 m(2)/g), and that the mean pore diameter of F-CT900 (2.41 (A) over circle) is smaller than that of CT900 (9.09 (A) over circle). The adsorption of MB onto CT900 and F-CT900 reached equilibrium within 5 h. We fitted the experimental data with the pseudo-second-order model and obtained correlation coefficients between 0.993 and 0.999. We found that more MB adsorbed onto F-CT900 (about 650 mg/g) than onto CT900 (about 350 mg/g). We also fitted these experimental data with both the Freundlich and Langmuir equations. Thus, carbonaceous material for MB removal could be produced from fireproofed cotton, and it is useful for the purification of dye solution systems.