Pyrolysis-derived activated carbon from Colombian cashew (Anacardium occidentale) nut shell for valorization in phenol adsorption

The cashew nut shell is an agricultural residue generated in the production of cashew nuts. This residue is a hard-management biomass that can be efficiently transformed using pyrolysis, into a biochar. Conversely, potable water security requires the development of efficient adsorbents using novel and renewable materials. Then, in this work, a pyrolysis-derived carbon was chemically activated with KOH to remove phenol from an aqueous solution at 200 ppm that could represent health risk for life. The activated carbon was characterized rigorously, whereas adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms were evaluated to determine the suitability of this material to remove phenol. The activated carbon presented a chemical composition of 64.4 wt%; 33.2 wt%, and 1.98 wt% of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, respectively. Also, it presented a surface adsorption area of 863 m²/g, with a pore volume of 0.476 cm³/g. The surface chemistry presented -OH groups and the morphology revealed an organized material with the occurrence of porosity. The pseudo-second-order adequately described the kinetics of adsorption (80.93 mg/g and 0.0044 g/mg min, for equilibrium concentration (q_e), and adsorption rate constant (k_PSO), respectively). Additionally, the Toth isotherm model described reasonably the adsorption mechanism suggesting that a monolayer chemisorption that is independent of concentration of phenol took place for activated carbon. The efficiency of phenol uptake in the present work was about 79%, indicating that activated carbon derived from cashew nut shells has the potential for water remediation.

Graphical abstract