Removal of organic fractions from landfill leachate by casuarina equisetifolia activated carbon: Characteristics and adsorption mechanisms

In this research, the activated carbon prepared from tropical plant waste based Casuarinas Equisetifolia plant was activated through chemical activation by using potassium hydroxide (KOH) as the activating agent. The raw sample was carbonized following conventional heating via electric furnace at 600˚C with the increasing temperature 30˚C/minutes in one hour which was selected as the optimum condition. The prepared activated carbons exhibit mesoporous with the pore diameter within 0.2 µm to 20 µm. From the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) micrographs, the morphology of the activated carbon indicated that they demonstrated high pore development on it surfaces. The effects of initial pH, contact time and adsorbent dosage onto the adsorption performances were evaluated through batch adsorption study. The COD removal increased when the adsorbent dosage was increased. The adsorption of COD and colour were best fitted by the Freundlich isotherm model compared to ammonia, which the correlation regressions, R2 were 0.8451, 0.8315 and 0.6608, respectively. The result of the preliminary of the experimental indicated that the Casuarinas Equisetifolia plant is a promising raw material suitable for turning from waste into wealth.