Does agricultural biomass matter for environmental sustainability? Enhanced adsorption capacity of BTEX mixture using powdered activated carbon by agricultural biomass

Abstract

The poor indoor air quality can be associated with the released volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from different sources. The extent of the concern may increase depending on the presence of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) and exposure to them in the indoor air. Adsorption with activated carbon, which is a very effective method, is preferred to eliminate highly volatile gaseous pollutants and reduce the extend of their negative impact. In this work, the removal efficiency of a novel activated carbons (MSRACs), prepared from stems of Corylus colurna (CCBW) by chemical processes using H2SO4, H3PO4, and HCl, was scrutinized towards BTEX pollutants. The adsorbents acquired from this lignin-based waste were investigated from porosity and surface chemistry aspects. The highest surface area of 1424 m2/g and micropore volume of 0.46 cm3/g were attained after activation of MSRAC11 adsorbent sample by H2SO4-70wt%. The performances of the fabricated adsorbent samples were evaluated and the order of MSRAC11>MSRAC24>MSRAC36 was obtained in the multiple concentrations of BTEX. This study introduces an easy method for producing efficient adsorbents from lignin-based waste for filtering indoor air and designing BTEX-capturing systems for various applications