Activated Carbon from Sugarcane Bagasse: A Low-Cost Approach towards Cr(VI) Removal from Wastewater

The potential of pretreated sugarcane bagasse (SCB) as a low-cost and renewable source to yield activated carbon (AC) for chromate CrO42− removal from an aqueous solution has been investigated. Raw was with H2SO4, H3PO4, HCl, HNO3, KOH, NaOH, or ZnCl2 before carbonization at 700 °C. Only pretreatments H2SO4 KOH clean AC powders, while the other powders still contain non-carbonaceous components. point zero charge ACs obtained SCB is 7.71 2.62, respectively. Batch equilibrium studies show that most effective conditions are low pH (i.e., below 3) where >96% removed solution.