Microwave-assisted activated carbon obtained from the sludge of tannery-treatment effluent plant for removal of leather dyes

摘要

An activated carbon was prepared by chemical activation of the sludge collected from tannery wastewater treatment plant (TWTP) using microwave heating. The sludge was mixed with ZnCl2 and lime to form a paste, which was inserted inside a quartz reactor and irradiated by microwave for 10 min under N-2. After the pyrolysis, the carbonized material was refluxed with a 6.0 mol L-1 HCl to obtain the activated carbon (AMWCTS). The AMWCTS was characterized by SEM, FTIR, TGA, XRD, BET and BJH analytical techniques. AMWCTS has high BET surface area of 491.0 m(2) g(-1) and total pore volume of 0.440 cm(3) g(-1) with mesoporous pore size distribution.