Preparation and characterization of activated carbon from the sea mango (Cerbera Odollam) for methyl orange removal

Abstract

Sea Mango (Cerbera Odollam), a non-edible fruit which is abundantly available in Malaysia was transform into a potential low-cost activated carbon for removal of Methyl Orange (Mono Azo dye) from textile wastewater. The activated carbon was subjected to carbonization process at 200˚C with N2 flow, followed by chemical activation with phosphoric acid (H2PO4) and physical activation by using furnace at 500˚C for 2 hours. The iodine number, Methylene Blue and total ash content measure were 720 mg/g, 109.65 mg/g, 9.5% respectively. The effect of several operating parameter, such as activated carbon dosage, contact time, initial concentration, and pH at room temperature and pressure on the adsorption process of Methyl orange were evaluated. Result show that the optimum pH of removal methyl orange is at pH 3, minimal dosage of adsorbent was required to complete 100mL of methyl orange is 0.6g.Adsorption behavior of Methyl Orange on Sea Mango activated carbon was express by both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm.The equilibrium concentration of methyl orange from Langmuir isotherm is 200mg/g.Freundlich model is best fit the isotherm better than the Langmuir model with KF= 3.5462, n=5.5556 and R2=0.9968, while for Langmuir model qm=200 mg/g, KL= 0.0122, RL= 0.3871 and R2=0.9110.