Activated carbon from acidic sludge of a petrochemical industry

Activated carbon was prepared from an acidic sludge, a hazardous solid waste from a petrochemical industry, by sulphuric acid treatment method, characterised and compared with that of commercially available coconut shell activated carbon (CACSC). The effectiveness of ASAC in removing methylene blue colour was studied by conducting batch experiments to assess the effect of contact time, pH and adsorbent dosage. Results indicated that ASAC has equally good adsorptive capacity as that of CACSC for methylene blue colour removal and provided a strong basis for justifying the development of a new activated carbon from the acidic sludge.