Preparation of microporous activated carbon from Aegle Marmelos fruit shell and its application in removal of chromium(VI) from aqueous phase

•Aegle Marmelos fruit shell is an excellent precursor for the preparation of microporous activated carbon (MAC).•MAC produced by ZnCl2 activation showed high percentage (82.3) removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous phase.•pH played a significant role in removal of Cr(VI) by prepared MAC.

Microporous activated carbon (MAC) was prepared from an economically feasible plant precursor i.e. Aegle Marmelos fruit shell by ZnCl2 activation. The MAC prepared at optimum conditions exhibited high micropore surface area (1339 m2/g) and micropore volume (0.48 cm3/g). Prepared MAC was applied for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. The adsorption equilibrium was well explained by the Freundlich isotherm and the process followed the pseudo-second order kinetics. The results obtained showed that the film diffusion was rate controlling mechanism. The prepared MAC showed better adsorption capacity towards Cr(VI). The process was modeled by using 24 full factorial designs (FFD).

Graphical abstractMicropores with uniform pore size attain high surface area and pore volume to the prepared activated carbon.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide