Porous Carbon Spheres Derived from Waste Ion-Exchange Resins and Research on Adsorption of Methylene Blue

Abstract

A kind of porous carbon spherical material with high specific surface (SBET=1,292 m2/g) was synthesized from deactivated methyl tert butyl ether (MTBE) resins with KOH as the activator (KAC). This synthesized material was characterized by Brunner Emmet Teller (BET) measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Additionally, the mechanism of adsorbing methylene blue (MB) on this porous carbon sphere was studied and interpreted from kinetics, adsorption equilibrium and thermodynamic properties. Results showed that the kinetics data fitted the pseudo-second-order model well; the adsorption equilibrium data followed Langmuir model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 478.5 mg/g; and the thermodynamic parameters displayed an endothermic and spontaneous adsorption process of MB on carbon spheres.