Ipomoea batatas vine-derived activated carbon: a utility and efficient adsorbent for removing Cr(VI) from aqueous solution.

In this work, an efficient activated carbon derived from Ipomoea batatas vine was used to remove hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) from wastewater. A series of characterization results of the activated carbon revealed that one of the prepared activated carbon (prepared at 800°C) had a high specific surface area (1,508.4 m2 /g), rich functional groups, etc. Batch adsorption experiments were carried out to explore the adsorption effect and mechanism of AC-800 on Cr(VI) in aqueous solution. The adsorption kinetic and isotherms experiment results fitted well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model, respectively, which indicated that the adsorption of Cr(VI) by AC-800 was mainly by surface chemical complexation reaction, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 362.3 mg/g (in optimized condition). The efficiency of Cr(VI) removal was significantly affected by the initial pH of the solution. And, AC-800 showed good reusability, and the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) was still over 70% after four cycles. Overall, the activated carbon derived from discarded Ipomoea batatas vine could be considered an efficient adsorbent for Cr(VI) removal from aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]