Adsorption of organic pollutants on carbonaceous adsorbents prepared by direct activation of sweet cherry stones

The main objective of this study was to assess the usefulness of the sweet cherry stones for the production of carbonaceous adsorbents by means of direct physical activation method, using conventional and microwave variant of heating. The adsorbents were characterized in terms of textural parameters, acidic‐basic character of the surface, electrokinetic properties and their suitability for drinking water purification. Adsorption tests were carried out against three organic compounds: Triton X‐100 (surfactant), bovine serum albumin (protein) and methylene blue (synthetic dye). Depending on the variant of heating applied during activation procedure, the obtained activated biochars differed significantly in terms of the elemental composition, acidic‐basic properties as well as degree of specific surface development and the type of porous structure generated. Adsorption tests have showed that the efficiency of organic pollutants removal from aqueous solutions depends significantly not only on the type of the adsorbent and adsorbate applied, but also on the temperature and pH of the system. The sample prepared by microwave‐assisted direct activation proved to be very effective in terms of all tested organic pollutants adsorption. The maximum sorption capacity toward Triton‐100, bovine serum albumin and methylene blue reached the level of 86.5, 23.4 and 81.1 mg/g, respectively.