Abdoul Ntieche Rahman, Abdoul Wahabou, Patrick Mountapmbeme Kouotou, Abdelaziz Bacaoui
Keywords: Urban plastics waste, activated carbon, adsorption, phenolic compounds, wastewater
Abstract: The aim of this study was the production of activated carbons (ACs) starting from urban plastics waste that is the postconsumer bottles made of polyethylene terephtalate (PET) as raw material, the characterization and the investigation of their efficiency in the removal of micro-pollutants such as chloro- and nitro-phenolic compounds from an aqueous solution. Plastics waste were carbonized at 600°C in an inert N2 atmosphere and the resulting char was subjected to the physical and physico-chemical activation at 850ºC. The ACs prepared by this method were characterized in terms of structure, pore texture, microstructure and surface functional groups. Finally, the ACs prepared were successfully tested as adsorbent in the removal of 4-chlorophenol and 4-nitrophenol from an aqueous solution. The influence of the activation method on the performance of the so-prepared ACs was investigated and discussed. On the basis of the results obtained the greatest performance in the removal performance of 4-chlorophenol and 4-nitrophenol was observed with the sample obtained from physico-chemical activation. It was thus suggested that the physico-chemical activation leads to the formation of chemical bond at the surface of the adsorbent so prepared, showing that the impregnation of char with KOH before physical activation enhance the formation of functional groups necessary for chemisorption
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