Preparation and adsorption studies of high specific surface area activated carbons obtained from the chemical activation of jute stick

High specific surface area activated carbon has been produced from the chemical activation of jute stick using H3PO4 as an activating agent at different temperatures in the range 673-973 K. The BET surface area of the activated carbon was measured by nitrogen adsorption methods. The maximum specific surface area was found to be 1734 m(2)/g. The liquid-phase adsorption of iodine and Methylene Blue dye was studied. The maximum iodine number was found to be 1234 mg/g. The adsorption of Methylene Blue dye from dilute solutions proceeded via monolayer coverage which could be described by the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. However, multilayer adsorption was achieved when the equilibrium concentration of the dye solution was increased. The vapour-phase adsorption of CCl4 at 303 K was also very high (1200 mg/g), which was much higher than that of a commercial activated carbon (330 mg/g).