Effect of Ammonia Modification on Activated Carbons for the Removal of Acidic Anthraquinone Dyes

The objective of this research is to study the retention of two acidic anthraquinone dyes by Coconut-shell-based activated carbon. Ultimately, this work allows the valorization of this new material as an adsorbent. The effect of ammonia modification on the adsorption capacity of activated carbon towards remazol brilliant blue R19 (RB19) and acid blue 25 (AB25), has been studied. Coconut-shell-based activated carbon material was modified under ammonia flow at 900 and 1000 degrees C. The adsorption rates and isotherms of RB19 and AB25 on the resultant materials were then tested. The results show that ammonia modification remarkably increases the adsorption capacities of the activated carbons to RB19 and AB25, by a factor of 2-3 after treatment at 1000 degrees C (From 0.22 mmol g(-1) and 1.04 mmol g(-1) to 0.76 mmol g(-1) and 2.19 mmol g(-1) on AC and AC-O-N-1000, respectively). The increased adsorption capacity is attributed to the introduction of basic nitrogen-containing functional groups and enhanced pore development by ammonia modification. The collected experimental kinetic and isotherm data are well compatible with the intraparticle diffusion kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model. According to these results, the adsorption affinity is homogeneous in terms of surface functional groups and the surface bears a finite number of identical adsorption sites.