Fabrication of high surface area acid-treated activated carbon from pomegranate husk for 2,4-dichlorophenol adsorption

In the present study, zinc chloride followed by acid treating was employed for fabrication activated carbon with a high surface area from pomegranate husk (APHAC) for 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) adsorption. The APHAC was a well-developed pore and exhibiting specific surface areas of 1576 m2/g. Based on the XRD analysis, the diffraction peaks between 15 ° and 35 ° corresponded to amorphous carbon, and the pHpzc values of APHAC was 6.15 ± 0.15. According to batch experiments, the optimum adsorption condition of 2,4-DCP was pH of 3, contact time 60 min, and APHAC dose of 1.75. The absorption capacity of 2,4-DCP at the APHAC dose of 0.5 promptly decreased from 259.5 ± 12.9 mg/g at the initial concentration of 150 mg/L to 74.5 ± 3.7 mg/g dose of 2 g/L. With increasing temperature from 10°C to 50°C, the adsorption efficiency declined from 99.8 ± 0.5% to 75.6 ± 1.89%. The isotherm and kinetic of 2,4-DCP by APHAC revealed that Freundlich and Elovich satisfactorily fitted with experimental data.