Synthesis and Characterization of Zeolite Templated Carbon and Usage as Adsorbent for Removal of Pb(II) Ions from Solution

Abstract

Inthis study, the porous carbon was prepared through templated synthesis methodusing the natural zeolite as template and sugar as carbon source. The porouscarbon was obtained at a carbonization temperature of 700oC with aweight ratio 1:1 for zeolite and sugar. The physical, structural and surfaceproperties of the porous carbon were characterized with the scanning electronmicroscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD), elemental analysis and nitrogen (N2) adsorption. The specificsurface area and total pore volume of carbon were found as 412 m2/gand 0.5515 cm3/g, respectively. This carbon material was used forremoval of Pb2+ ions from solution. The effects of initial pH, temperatureand contact time on adsorption were studied. The maximum Pb2+removal was observed at pH=5. The adsorption was reached to the equilibrium in120 minutes. Various kinetic models were used for describing the adsorptionkinetic and the pseudo-second order kinetic model showed well fit. Langmuir,Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models were applied to the experimentalequilibrium data and Langmuir equation was found as best fitting isotherm.