Facile one-spot synthesis of highly porous KOH-activated carbon from rice husk: Response surface methodology approach

Abstract

Highly porous KOH–activated carbon was successfully synthesized from rice husk by chemical activation with KOH. The products were characterized by IR, SEM, and BET. The response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to determine the optimum fabrication conditions of AC with respect to the simultaneous effects of activation temperature (T), impregnation rate (IR) and activation time (t) to maximize the yield of activated carbon and removal efficiency of Ni2+. The optimum synthesis conditions were T = 522 oC, IR = 1.3 and t = 360 min with a maximum AC yield of 28.5 % and a maximum Ni2+ removal of 28.5 %. The results indicated that highly porous structure, high surface area as well as the surface functional groups are key impacts in the adsorptive capacity of activated carbons for Ni2+.

Keywords

• Adsorption of Ni (II)
• rice husk
• response surface methodology
• activated carbon