Mesoporous activated carbon from inherently potassium-rich pokeweed by in situ self-activation and its use for phenol removal

A promising approach, mainly focusing on the exploitation of the naturally potassium-enriched (K-rich) feature of pokeweed for facile and environment-friendly production of activated carbons, is highlighted. The inherent presence of rich potassium components in pokeweed, acting as efficient in situ chemical activators during pyrolysis, was characterized by AAS, XRD and EDX analysis. The in situ activated adsorbent shows textural characteristic of a well developed porous structure with prominent mesopores, giving a desirable adsorption capacity of phenol (172.41 mg g−1) deduced from the Langmuir model. The results reveal that in situ self-activation of K-rich biomass could be proposed as a convenient yet effective way for green generation of low-cost activated carbons, due to the advantage of no need for artificial pretreatment with numerous chemical agents over the routine chemical activation profiles.

► Mesoporous activated carbon was readily generated from K-rich pokeweed favored by in situ self-activation.
► Rich potassium components inherently existing in the feedstock was identified.
► The in situ activated adsorbent has a desirable performance for phenol removal.