Abstract
The potential of pretreated sugarcane bagasse (SCB) as a low-cost and renewable source to yield activated carbon (AC) for chromate CrO 4 2− removal from an aqueous solution has been investigated. Raw sugarcane bagasse was pretreated with H 2 SO 4 , H 3 PO 4 , HCl, HNO 3 , KOH, NaOH, or ZnCl 2 before carbonization at 700 • C. Only pretreatments with H 2 SO 4 and KOH yield clean AC powders, while the other powders still contain non-carbonaceous components. The point of zero charge for ACs obtained from SCB pretreated with H 2 SO 4 and KOH is 7.71 and 2.62, respectively. Batch equilibrium studies show that the most effective conditions for chromate removal are a low pH (i.e., below 3) where >96% of the chromate is removed from the aqueous solution.