Preparation of Activated Carbon from Artichoke Stem by ZnCl2 Activation: Application in Nickel(II) Adsorption from Aqueous Solution

ABSTRACT: Activated carbon is one of the most important industrial products due to its versatile applications. In this work, efficient activated carbon was produced and utilized for adsorption of nickel from simulated wastewater under varying operational parameters. The raw material (Artichoke) has been chemically modified by zinc chloride (ZnCl2) to improve its surface reactivity and enhance its adsorption capacity. The adsorbent was characterized by the FTIR analysis. The experimental data were analyzed by adsorption isotherms and kinetic models. Langmuir equation proved to be suitable to explain the adsorption process and the experimental results fit well with the pseudo-second-order model. The performance of the prepared artichoke-based activated carbon (AAC) suggests it can be used as low coast or cheap adsorbent for the treatment of water and removal of heavy metal ions from industrial effluents. Keywords: Heavy metal ions, nickel, Activated carbon, Artichoke. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………