Abstract:

In order to study the adsorption properties and adsorption mechanism of waste cellulose based activated carbon to methylene blue, cellulose based activated carbons were prepare from waste cotton, waste jute and waste cotton/flax blended fabrics as raw materials by using steam as activating agent, carrying steam into a high temperature  tubrlar furnace by N₂． The preparation process of activation temperature, activation time and N₂ flow rate were 750 ℃, 50 min and 240 L/h, respectively. The nitrogen gs adsorption-desorption isotherm of waste cellulose based activated carbons was achieved. The specific surface areas and pore size distribution were used to characterized waste cellulose based activated carbon. In addition, the adsorption kinetics of waste cellulose based activated carbon to methylene blue were studied in the experiment. The experimental results show that the waste cellulose based activated carbon is mesoporous material, and the specific surface areas of areas of activated carbon prepared from waste cotton, waste jute and waste cotton/flax (50/50) blend were 703.05, 719.93 and 648.25 m²/g, respectively, and the maximum methylene blue adsorption quantity of activated carbon prepared from waste cotton, waste jute and waste cotton/flax blend were 341.49, 267.13 and 242.68 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption of waste cellulose based activated carbon to methylene blue was in line with second order reaction kinetics.

Key words: waste fabric based activated carbon, steam activation, methylene blue, kinetics