Microwave-assisted synthesis of carbon powder for rapid dye removal

Adsorption is generally considered a facile way for the water treatment, the importance of which is to be more and more noticeable when it comes to the purification of dyes which are very harmful to human life. At the present work, the mixture of glucose dissolved in water and polyethylene glycol (PEG) was irradiated with microwave to form the stable dispersed carbon particles. Then, NaCl played a key role in precipitating the stable dispersed carbon particles. Having full characterization, the synthesized carbon particles (CPs) was applied to adsorption of two cationic dyes, methyl violet (MV) and cationic blue (CB). The equilibrium and kinetics adsorption of MV and CB onto the CPs were studied. The kinetics investigations indicated that the adsorption rate of both dyes onto the obtained CPs was fast (few seconds). In addition, the studied temperature effect on CB and MV revealed that the adsorption of these dyes is dependent on temperature. Finally, the kinetics studies of mixed cationic and anionic dye solution were followed showing that the prepared CPs adsorb cationic dye selectively.