Carbon 39 (2001) 1849–1855

Pecan shell activated carbon: synthesis, characterization, and

application for the removal of copper from aqueous solution
Seyed A. Dastgheib*, David A. Rockstraw
New Mexico State University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Box 30001, MSC 3805, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA
Received 31 July 2000; accepted 25 November 2000

Abstract

Activated carbon with a high adsorption capacity for removal of copper ions from aqueous solution is produced from
pecan shells. Air and phosphoric acid are used for the oxidation and the modification or development of oxygen- or
phosphorus / oxygen-containing groups on the carbon surface. It was found that the adsorption capacity of the produced
carbon is significantly higher than that of the commercial activated carbons that were tested, and comparable to an ion
exchange resin designed for copper adsorption. Based on the results obtained from a variety of characterization methods, it
has been determined that the surface of the carbon is covered with a considerable concentration of phosphorus, present in the
form of various functional groups. It is proposed that the acidic groups detected using the Boehm titration method not only
be considered as oxygen-containing acidic groups, but also as oxygen / phosphorus groups. From pH studies, it was observed
that adsorption of copper at very low concentrations occurs by ion exchange of 2H 1 from the surface with a Cu 21 ion from
solution; while at higher concentrations, other forms of ion-exchange and surface complexation with oxygen- and
phosphorus-containing functional group sites can be proposed as well.  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: A. Activated carbon; B. Chemical treatment; C. Adsorption; D. Functional groups

1. Introduction
Activated carbon as an inexpensive and effective ad-
sorbent is widely used in various adsorption processes in
both liquid and gas phases. Depending on the characteris-
tics (charge, size, etc.) of the adsorbates, one can design an
activated carbon by using the appropriate precursor and
optimizing carbonization and activation process conditions.
The ‘designer carbon’ can be tailored to surface area, pore
size distribution, and surface chemistry needs of the
process.
It has been shown by many researchers [1–6] that
lignocellulosic agricultural wastes, particularly nutshells,
are very good precursors for the production of activated
carbons suitable for the removal of metal ions from
aqueous solutions. Furthermore it is well known [7] that
the best activated carbons for the adsorption of positively
*Corresponding author. Fax: 11-505-646-7706.
E-mail address: sdastghe@nmsu.edu (S.A. Dastgheib).
charged species are the oxidized ones with acidic func-
tional groups that display ion-exchange properties. The
development of these acidic groups can be carried out by
oxidation with oxygen (air) or other oxidizing materials.
Low temperature activation (,4008C) in the presence of
air produces an L carbon with acidic behavior [8].
In this work pecan shell was selected as the precursor to
be carbonized and activated in the presence of air and
phosphoric acid at relatively low temperatures. The carbon
produced by this method has a very large capacity for
removing metal ions from solution compared to that of the
tested commercial materials. This large capacity is associ-
ated with the existence of proper type and number of
oxygen and oxygen / phosphorus functional groups on the
surface. In case of phosphoric acid activated carbons [3–
5,9], little attention has been paid to the surface acidity
contributed from the contribution of phosphorus-containing
groups, except for a recent publication by Benaddi et al.
[10]. When the Boehm titration method is used for the
quantification of various acidic groups with different
strengths, no acidic phosphorus group is listed [3–5,9]. In

0008-6223 / 01 / $ – see front matter  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0008-6223( 00 )00315-8
1850 S. A. Dastgheib, D. A. Rockstraw / Carbon 39 (2001) 1849 – 1855
this work, the significance of phosphorus groups for
activated carbon surface acidity is demonstrated.
2. Experimental
2.1. Synthesis
Synthesis of activated carbon from pecan shells was
carried out by the following method.
2.1.1. Precursor preparation
Pecan shells from Young Pecans, Inc., Las Cruces, NM,
were milled using a coffee mill. Powder passing through a
standard 200-mesh sieve (called ‘PS’) was used for
synthesis. The small size of precursor enables the highest
possible exposure of the particles to oxygen and phosphor-
ic acid, and therefore increased functional group develop-
ment.
2.1.2. Liquid phase activation and carbonization
PS was mixed with 85% phosphoric acid (PA) in the
weight ratio of 1 PS to 3 PA and diluted |5 times with
deionized water in a 1000-ml beaker. A three-to-one
weight ratio of phosphoric acid to PS was used to have a
high concentration of acid and to maximize the phosphorus
groups attachments to the carbon surface. In the final
washing steps of the process, more than 95% of PA can be
recovered and recycled. The beaker was placed on the hot
plate / stirrer and gently boiled for a few hours until the
mixture turned to a black paste. The temperature of the
paste at this point was recorded as |1608C.
2.1.3. Primary air activation
The heating rate was increased by replacing the hot plate
with a Bunsen burner. Heating continued while the materi-
al was stirred for 15 min with a glass tube that introduced
air at a flow-rate of 3 l / min. During this period of
carbonization and activation, temperature increases from
|160 to |2158C. During this processing step, carboniza-
tion is nearly complete, and the activation process with air
and PA continues until the physical form of material
changes to a ‘black dry solid’ that can be used for further
activation.
2.1.4. Secondary air activation
Secondary air activation of carbon was carried out in a
glass tube placed vertically in a tubular furnace. The
carbon samples prepared in the previous stage were
activated for 30 min with an air flow rate of 2.5 l / min at
temperatures ranging from 300 to 5008C. After activation,
the tube was removed from the furnace and cooled for 10
min with the flowing air.
2.1.5. Washing and drying
The synthesized carbon was washed by boiling in
deionized water (carbon concentration: |20 g / l), filtered,
then rinsed with deionized water. This procedure was
repeated twice. Then the sample was placed in a Soxhlet
extractor and rinsed with deionized water for 48 h. The
rinsed carbon was transferred to a beaker and slurried with
deionized water. The slurry was boiled and filtered. The
wash water was tested with lead nitrate solution for
detection of phosphate. After cooling, the pH of the wash
water was measured to assure neutrality. The carbon was
dried in a vacuum oven at 1008C for 12 h, cooled in a
desiccator, weighed, ground, transferred to a container, and
stored in the desiccator. Identification codes were given to
the carbons activated at different temperatures showing
their secondary step activation temperature (e.g. PS300 is a
sample activated at 3008C). A carbon sample only acti-
vated by primary air activation, but washed and dried
according to the above procedure is called PS215N. By
comparing properties of PS215N with those of samples
receiving secondary activation, the significance of the
activation step will be discussed.
2.2. Characterization
2.2.1. Copper uptake from aqueous solutions
One hundred mg of activated carbon produced at the
different temperatures were placed in each 250-ml Erlen-
meyer flask. One hundred ml of 250 ppm Cu(II) solution,
made from dissolving CuCl 2 in deionized water, were
added to each flask. After shaking the sealed flasks for 4
days at 150 rev. / min and 258C, the final concentration of
solutions was measured by AA flame spectroscopy (Per-
kin-Elmer 3100). From these measurements, the amount of
copper uptake per gram of carbon was calculated.
2.2.2. Boehm titration method
The acidic groups covering the carbon surface were
quantified by using the Boehm method [11] that is widely
used by carbon researchers [3–5,9,12]. The procedure was
as follows: 0.1 N solutions of sodium bicarbonate (pKa 5
6.37), sodium carbonate (pKa 510.25), and sodium hy-
droxide (pKa 515.74), were prepared. Two hundred mg of
carbon were weighed and placed in each flask of a series
of 250-ml Erlenmeyer flasks. Then 50 ml of different bases
were transferred to different flasks containing carbon
samples, and empty flasks considered as blanks. Samples
and blanks were shaken at 150 rev. / min for 48 h at room
temperature, and then left for 6 h for settling of the
particulates. The clear solution was filtered by a 0.45-mm
Teflon membrane filter. Ten ml of the filtrate were added
to 15 ml of 0.1 N HCl, and excess HCl determined by
titration with 0.1 N NaOH solution. The difference be-
tween the NaOH consumption by the blank and samples
was calculated and translated to the H 1 equivalents
neutralized by the base per gram of carbon.
 S. A. Dastgheib, D. A. Rockstraw / Carbon 39 (2001) 1849 – 1855
2.2.3. Surface area and pore size characterization
The analysis was performed using a Micromeritics
ASAP 2010 gas adsorption surface area analyzer. From the
nitrogen isotherms at 77 K and by using the BET equation,
the surface area of samples was determined. Micropore
volume was determined using t-plots (Harkins and Jura),
mesopore volume (volume of pores in the range of 2–50
nm in diameter) using the BJH equation, and total volume
of pores was calculated at a relative pressure (P/P0 ) of
0.99.
2.2.4. Elemental phosphorus analysis
Sample phosphorus content was determined by induc-
tively coupled plasma emission spectrophotometer (ICP)
and was performed by the New Mexico State University
Soil, Water and Air Testing (SWAT) laboratory.
2.2.5. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis ( EDX)
A JEOL 6300FXV ultra-high resolution field emission
scanning electron microscope, with parallel energy-disper-
sive X-ray spectrometer, located at Los Alamos National
Laboratory, was used for visualization of the samples and
qualitative elemental analysis.
2.3. Application to copper adsorption
In this section, a comparison is made of the adsorption
capabilities of (i) produced PS activated carbon, (ii)
commercial activated carbon, and (iii) ion-exchange resin.
The effect of pH on the adsorption phenomenon is also
investigated.
2.3.1. Adsorption and desorption of copper onto the
produced carbon
Each isotherm point was determined using 100 mg of
PS400 activated carbon added to 100 ml of CuCl 2 solution
of known concentration. Sealed flasks were shaken at 150
rev. / min for 4 days at 258C. Initial and final copper
solution concentrations were measured by flame atomic
absorption (AA) spectroscopy. Copper loading per mass of
carbon (Q e ; mmol Cu adsorbed / g adsorbent) was calcu-
lated at the equilibrium concentration (Ce ; mmol Cu / l).
The pH of copper solutions before adding carbon, immedi-
ately after adding carbon, and at equilibrium were recorded
and used for the ion exchange investigation.
Adsorption isotherms for copper were obtained at four
different equilibrium pH ranges. The lower and upper
limits in each range correspond to the most concentrated
and least concentrated solutions, respectively. In the series
with the pH range of 2.90–3.00 no pH adjustment was
made. In the pH ranges of 3.32–3.62 and 4.61–4.81, stock
CuCl 2 solutions were buffered with sodium acetate and
acetic acid. In the low pH range of 2.08–2.12 the pH was
adjusted by adding a few drops of 0.1 N HCl solution.
For the desorption study, slurries of PS activated carbon
in copper solutions (after reaching equilibrium) were
1851
filtered and carbon was rinsed with deionized water. The
washed carbon was transferred to an Erlenmeyer flask, a
known volume of deionized water was added, and the
slurry was shaken at 150 rev. / min and 258C for 48 h. At
the end of this step, the solution was tested for copper ion
concentration. The carbon slurry was filtered and the above
desorption procedure was repeated using 10% HCl solution
instead of pure water.
2.3.2. Adsorption of copper onto commercial activated
carbons and ion exchange resin
Commercial carbons obtained from Norit Americas Inc.
include: Hydrodarco C (HDC), Darco S51 (DAR), Darco
12X40 (GD), and Norit PAC 200 (PAC). HDC, DAR, and
GD are steam-activated carbons from lignite coal. HDC is
a powdered activated carbon recommended for wastewater
treatment by the manufacturer. PAC is a powdered, steam
activated carbon from coal. SR-5 resin was also obtained
from Sybron Chemicals Inc., and is a styrene–divinylben-
zene copolymer with iminodiacetic acid functional groups.
The manufacturer recommends use of this resin for copper
adsorption.
The stock solution used for resin and HDC isotherms
was CuCl 2 solution with no pH adjustment. For the other
adsorbents, pH was adjusted by adding a few drops of 0.1
N HCl. Adsorption isotherms of the commercial carbons
and resin were obtained as described in the previous
section.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Synthesis
The synthesis steps of PS activated carbon are designed
to maximize the development of various surface acidic
functional groups (oxygen- and / or phosphorus-containing
groups) through the surface oxidation as well as attachment
of different oxygen / phosphorus groups to the surface,
while developing required porosity.
The precursor preparation and liquid phase activation
steps of this process are similar to the process proposed by
Shawabkeh [1]. The carbonization and activation methods
(in different steps) have some differences with methods
proposed by others [1–6].
During the first activation step, temperature increases
from 100 to 1608C and the consistency of the mixture
changes from a light slurry to a black paste. Carbonization
occurs by thermal decomposition and phosphoric acid
dehydration of the lignocellulosic material. Further heating
increases the temperature of the mixture to |2158C. It is
known that at a temperature of 2138C, ortho-phosphoric
acid dehydrates, losing half a molecule of water and
forming pyrophosphoric acid [13]. In this step, air is used
to both oxidize the carbon and help to remove the water
molecules from the phosphoric acid structure. In the
1852 S. A. Dastgheib, D. A. Rockstraw / Carbon 39 (2001) 1849 – 1855
secondary air activation step, carbon particles covered with
a large amount of phosphoric acid are exposed to a steady
stream of air at different temperatures. It has been pro-
posed by other researchers that phosphoric acid acts as
both a dehydrator of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin,
and also as a crosslinking agent (as phosphates and
polyphosphates) in connecting the various fragments
[14,15].
Finally, the produced carbon was extensively washed
with 1008C water in order to remove all of the physically
attached phosphoric acid from the surface.
By using the initial weight of PS used for synthesis and
the final weight of produced dry activated carbon, the yield
% and burn-off % with respect to the PS can be calculated
and plotted against the activation temperature in Fig. 1.
3.2. Characterization
The effect of secondary activation temperature on the
copper uptake by the synthesized carbon from a 250 ppm
copper solution is shown in Fig. 2. In comparison, PS215N
adsorbed 11 mg copper per gram carbon; thus, as a result
of the secondary activation, copper uptake nearly triples
for PS300. Increasing activation temperature results in
increases in the copper adsorption loading of the carbon to
|40 mg / g carbon at around 3508C. Beyond 3508C no
further increases in copper adsorption are observed.
Fig. 3 shows the effect of secondary activation tempera-
ture on the concentration of acidic groups detected by
NaHCO 3 , Na 2 CO 3 , and NaOH. The results observed for
PS215N are similar to those of PS300. NaHCO 3 can detect
only strong acidic groups. In the literature the only strong
acidic group detected by NaHCO 3 is assumed to be the
carboxylic group, even in the case of phosphoric acid
activated carbons [4,5,9]. A portion of the strong acidity of
the surface can be attributed to the –OH group attached to
phosphorus-containing acids attached to the surface (i.e.
Fig. 1. Effect of activation temperature on activated carbon %
yield and pecan shell % burn off.
Fig. 2. Effect of secondary activation temperature on copper
uptake.
phosphonous acids: –PO 2 H 2 ; pKa 3–4.5 [10]). As seen in
Fig. 3, the concentration of these strong acidic groups does
not change considerably with the activation temperature,
suggesting that the majority of the acidity is attributed to
the less heat sensitive groups compared to the carboxylic
groups. Benaddi et al. [10] analyzed phosphoric acid
activated carbons produced from wood precursors using
potentiometric titration and identified peaks corresponding
to phosphonic acids (–PO 3 H 2 ; pKa 7–9), phosphonous
acids (–PO 2 H 2 ; pKa 3–4.5), and phosphines (–PR 3 ; pKa
3–6.5, 8–9).
Na 2 CO 3 , in addition to the aforementioned strong acidic
groups, is capable of detecting lactones and lactoles [11],
and some intermediate strength phosphorus-containing
acidic groups. NaOH can detect the previously described
acidic groups detected by Na 2 CO 3 plus phenols [11] (pKa
8–10) and phosphonic acids (pKa 7–9). The data in Fig. 3
show a linear decrease in the concentration of total acidic
groups detected by NaOH. This may occur due to thermal
degradation of phenolic and / or phosphonic acid groups.
Fig. 3. Acidic group quantification of PS carbons activated at the
different temperatures.
 S. A. Dastgheib, D. A. Rockstraw / Carbon 39 (2001) 1849 – 1855 1853

Table 1 ing the diameter of copper ion in aqueous solutions as 1.2

Surface area and porosity analysis of PS activated carbons nm [17], one can conclude that a portion of micropores is
Sample SA BET Vtotal Vmicro Vmeso Vmacro not accessible to the hydrated copper ions.
(m 2 / g) (cm 3 / g) (cm 3 / g) (cm 3 / g) (cm 3 / g) Table 2 shows the total phosphorus contents of the
various samples. Secondary activation at 3508C does not
PS215N 27 0.0159 0.0114 0.0020 0.0025
PS300 180 0.1223 0.0854 0.0260 0.0109 change the phosphorus content of the sample considerably
PS350 250 0.1904 0.1433 0.0311 0.0160 relative to PS215N. However, after increasing the activa-
PS375 297 0.2488 0.1830 0.0419 0.0239 tion temperature beyond 3508C, the phosphorus content
PS425 492 0.3012 0.2144 0.0484 0.0384 decreases. This decrease is attributed to thermal decompo-
PS450 1071 0.5742 0.2992 0.1231 0.1519 sition of the phosphate and polyphosphate bridges cross-
PS500 1017 0.5374 0.2838 0.1136 0.1400 linking parts of the carbon structure, as well as the thermal
degradation of some surface phosphorus compounds.
The energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometry result
Results from the surface area characterization are shown for PS400 is presented in Fig. 4. This figure reveals the
in Table 1. These results demonstrate how secondary existence of a large amount of phosphorus on the surface.
activation increases surface area. The surface area of Although the EDX was not operated in a quantitative
PS215N is very low (27 m 2 / g). As a result of secondary mode, the existence of phosphorus compounds on the
activation, the surface area of carbons as well as volumes surface can be confirmed qualitatively.
of micropores, mesopores, and macropores increase until
reaching a maximum at 4508C. Beyond this temperature, 3.3. Copper adsorption
the surface area begins to decrease slowly. Other carbon
researchers have reported reaching a maximum surface 3.3.1. Copper adsorption isotherms
area at a specific activation temperature, the temperature at Adsorption isotherms of copper ions at different pH are
which the maximum occurs depending on the type of shown in Fig. 5. Copper uptake increases with increase in
precursor, method of activation, and the kind / amount of pH. Loading is less pH-dependent around pH 3. It is well
chemical used for activation. Laine et al. [16] found that known that with the increase of pH, due to the decrease in
the surface area of coconut shell activated carbon im- the competition between the protons and metal ions for
pregnated with phosphoric acid is maximized at 4508C. surface sites, metal ion uptake by the activated carbon
By considering the results obtained from surface area increases [18]. It should further be noted that experiments
analysis, surface acidity characterization, and the copper must be carried out in a range of pH in which metal ion
uptake experiments, one can relate surface acidity and removal can be associated only with adsorption, and not to
surface area to the copper uptake. As previously men- a combination of adsorption and metal hydroxide precipi-
tioned, secondary activation has practically no effect on the tation. In case of copper ions, at the pH of 5.5 and copper
surface acidity detected by NaHCO 3 and Na 2 CO 3 but does concentration of 28 mmol / l copper hydroxide precipitation
have a significant effect on the development of surface occurs [18]. All data presented (for PS carbons, resin, and
area and on copper uptake. Considering samples activated commercial carbons) are obtained at conditions below
at different temperatures, copper uptake increases from 33 these limits.
mg Cu / g carbon for PS300 to |40 mg Cu / g carbon for
PS350, leveling off at higher temperatures. Surface area 3.3.2. Copper adsorption mechanism
increases from its lowest value for PS300 to its maximum The mechanism of copper adsorption (ion exchange,
point observed for PS450. Considering all of these ob- complexation, or a combination of both) is investigated
servations, one concludes that, although a large amount of using a simple pH study, the results of which are presented
the appropriate functionalities must exist (mostly strong in Table 3. The change in pH between initial and equilib-
acidic groups) for adsorption of copper ions, a relatively rium states for the carbon slurries (as a result of adding the
high surface area is also required. Otherwise, steric hin- carbon to copper solutions) is presented. The ratio of
drances and repulsion forces prevent hydrated metal ions
from utilizing all of the sites afforded by a large amount of Table 2
acidic groups accumulated on a small surface. In this work, Total phosphorus content of PS activated carbons
it is found that while surface area varies from 27 m 2 / g
Sample mg P/ g sample
(PS215N) to 250 m 2 / g (PS350) the copper adsorption of
the carbon is affected (see Table 1 and Fig. 2). However, PS 0.2
for surface areas larger than 250 m 2 / g (PS350), no effect PS215N 25.1
on the copper uptake is observed. It should be noted also PS350 26.4
that a major part of the high surface area of carbons PS400 20.8
PS425 15.5
activated at higher temperature is from the contribution of
PS475 15.1
the micropores (with diameters less than 2 nm). Consider-
1854 S. A. Dastgheib, D. A. Rockstraw / Carbon 39 (2001) 1849 – 1855

Fig. 4. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry results of PS400.

copper adsorbed to proton released is calculated based on
this pH change. At low concentrations (,1 mmol Cu / l),
this ratio is close to unity suggesting an ion exchange
phenomenon occurs by exchange of each Cu 21 from
solution with a pair of H 1 from the carbon surface. At
higher concentrations the calculated ratio becomes con-
siderably greater than unity, and increases with an increase
in solution concentration. This observation suggests that, in
addition to the aforementioned mechanism, other forms of

Table 3
pH change of copper solutions by PS activated carbon
meq H 1 released
Ce a Qe b pH 0 c pH e d ]]]] Qe / H1
g carbon
0.113 0.674 5.43 3.18 0.657 1.026
0.687 0.888 5.40 3.07 0.847 1.048
2.117 1.033 5.30 3.03 0.928 1.113
6.271 1.603 5.25 2.98 1.042 1.539
13.824 1.924 5.03 2.94 1.139 1.690
a
Equilibrium concentration of copper solution, meq Cu(II) / l.
b
Copper uptake at equilibrium, meq Cu adsorbed / g carbon.
c
Fig. 5. Adsorption isotherms of copper onto PS activated carbon pH of copper solution before adding carbon.
d
at different pH. pH of carbon slurry at equilibrium.
 S. A. Dastgheib, D. A. Rockstraw / Carbon 39 (2001) 1849 – 1855
Fig. 6. A comparison of PS activated carbon and commercial
activated carbons and ion exchange resin.
ion-exchange and surface complexation with oxygen- and
phosphorus-containing functional group sites can be con-
sidered as well. Other researchers [19] have observed
similar correlations between the released protons and
adsorbed metal ions for the adsorption of cadmium onto
activated carbon.
Results from desorption studies of PS carbons reveal
that even after extensive shaking for 2 days in deionized
water, no copper species are desorbed from the surface.
This proves that these ions are chemically adsorbed. Use of
10% HCl removes greater than 98% of the adsorbed
copper, regenerating the carbon adsorbent.
3.3.3. Comparison to commercially available adsorbent
materials
Fig. 6 provides a comparison of adsorptive capabilities
for PS activated carbon relative to commercial activated
carbons and an ion exchange resin designed for copper
adsorption. This figure shows that the tested commercial
carbons have much lower performance compared to the PS
activated carbon. Furthermore, the produced carbon ad-
sorbs copper at a loading comparable to the ion exchange
resin.
4. Conclusions
Activated carbon produced from pecan shells at rela-
tively low temperatures can be tailored to contain a
1855
balance of surface area and high surface concentrations of
functional groups favorable for adsorption of positively
charged metal species. These surface functionalities be-
have in a similar manner as an ion-exchange resin,
allowing the carbon product to be regenerated by an acid
regeneration method.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a grant from the Waste-
management Education and Research Consortium, and the
New Mexico State University engineering research center,
Las Cruces NM. Los Alamos National Laboratory pro-
vided access to analytical resources, including the EDX.
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