Preparation of Biomass-based Mesoporous Carbon with Higher Nitrogen-/Oxygen-chelating Adsorption for Cu(II) Through Microwave Pre-Pyrolysis

An environment-friendly technique for synthesizing biomass-based mesoporous activated carbon with high nitrogen-/oxygen-chelating adsorption for Cu(II) is proposed. Bagasse impregnated with phosphoric acid is utilized as the precursor. To pyrolyze the precursor, two separate heating modes are used: microwave pyrolysis and conventional electric-heating pyrolysis. The resulting bagasse-derived carbon samples are modified with nitrification and reduction modification. Nitrogen (N)/oxygen (O) functional groups are simultaneously introduced to the surface of activated carbon, enhancing its adsorption of Cu(II) by complexing and ion-exchange. Characterization and copper adsorption experiments are performed to investigate the physicochemical properties of four prepared carbon samples and determine which heating method favors the subsequent modification for doping of N/O functional groups. In this technique, based on analyzing data of nitrogen adsorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and batch adsorption experiments, it is proven that microwave-pyrolyzed carbon has more defect sites and, therefore, time-saving effective microwave pyrolysis contributes more N/O species to the carbon, although it leads to a lower specific surface area. This technique offers a promising route to synthesis adsorbents with higher nitrogen and oxygen content and a higher adsorption capacity of heavy-metal ions in wastewater remediation applications.