Removal of toxic metals with activated carbon prepared from Salvadora persica

Activated carbon was prepared under vacuum from Salvadora persica. Three different activated carbon samples were prepared for 30, 45 and 60 min duration at 400 °C. The surface area, pore volume and pore diameter of the activated carbon decrease with increase in the heating time. Activated carbon was used for sorption of copper, lead and nickel from aqueous solutions. The Langmuir sorption isotherm indicated maximum sorption capacities for the copper. The maximum sorption capacity was also found for the activated carbon which was heated for 30 min. The experimental data were applied to the Langmuir, the Freundlich and the Temkin sorption isotherms using both linear and non linear regression methods. The Langmuir model type 1 provided the lowest error values and fit better to experimental data compared with the other two models.