Adsorption of Copper and Zinc on Activated Carbon Prepared from <i>Typha latifolia</i> L.

Abstract

The physicochemical characteristic of activated carbon, prepared from Typha latifolia L. by phosphoric acid, was analyzed by spectroscopic analysis. Batch sorption of Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ ions in aqueous solutions was investigated under different pH value, adsorption time, original content of metal ions, sorbent amount, and temperature. Results showed that adsorption capacity of Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ increased with the increase of pH value of solution. It needed only about 10 min to reach equilibrium adsorption and pseudo second‐order sorption model was used to depict the adsorption process. The thermodynamics studies suggested that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. Equilibrium adsorption data of both metal ions fitted reasonably well with the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The maximum adsorption capacity of Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ obtained from the Langmuir adsorption isotherm studies was found to be 34.48 and 28.57 mg g −1 , respectively, at pH 6 and temperature of 25°C. Wastewater treatment showed that cattail‐based activated carbon prepared by phosphoric acid activation is a promising material for the treatment of metal ions out of industrial wastewater.