Preparation and Characterization of Activated Viscose Fiber and Potential Application in the Removal of Dyes in Aqueous Medium

The present work aimed to prepare and characterize activated carbon fibers from viscose fibers at different temperatures. Then, these same activated fibers were used in the process of removing methylene blue from an aqueous solution, using the adsorption technique. The activated carbon fibers showed an increase in the specific surface area due to the use of higher activation temperatures with a value of 420 m(2) g(-1) and a micropore fraction of 96.4%. In the adsorption tests of methylene blue, the viscose fiber without treatment showed low adsorption capacity of the dye while the activated carbon fibers, submitted to thermal degradation, presented higher dye removal capacities. The dye removal tests demonstrated the development of well-developed pores, since the formation of new active sites allowed the occurrence of the adsorption phenomenon more effectively.