Evaluation of activated carbon synthesized by one-stage and two-stage co-pyrolysis from sludge and coconut shell

Waste biomass and sewage sludge were used to obtain an adsorbent material with excellent performance qualities by adopting a KOH activation process via one-stage (ACone) or two-stage (ACtwo) co-pyrolysis. The main purpose of this work was to investigate the effects of both methods in terms of the physicochemical properties and adsorption capacities for methylene blue (MB). Textural analyses revealed that the surface area (S tot = 683.82 m2/g) and total pore volume (V tot = 0.72 cm3/g) of ACtwo were more than two-fold compared with ACone (S tot = 285.33 m2/g; V tot = 0.35 cm3/g). Thus, two-stage co-pyrolysis produced activated carbon with increased porosity, which was favorable for MB adsorption. Nevertheless, the intensity of the surface functional groups of ACtwo was weaker than for ACone, which could be due to the pore-forming mechanism. Two-stage co-pyrolysis increased the yield and aromaticity of activated carbon, but sufficient activation caused more functional groups to decompose. For the adsorbate MB, the maximum adsorption capacity of ACtwo (602.80 mg/g) was more than five-fold greater than that of ACone (101.88 mg/g), due to its excellent porosity properties. Furthermore, the interactions of MB molecules with activated carbon were via hydrogen bonds and electrostatic attraction. The adsorption process of MB onto activated carbon was accurately described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Adsorption equilibrium evaluated Langmuir isotherms demonstrated that MB formed a monolayer by adsorption onto the activated carbon. Adsorption thermodynamics was used to investigate the influence of temperature on the adsorption process. Thermodynamic parameters indicated that MB adsorption onto activated carbon was spontaneous and endothermic. In conclusion, our results showed that two-stage co-pyrolysis improves the adsorption capabilities of activated carbon, so achieving better economic value from waste materials.