Adsorption of acetaminophen by using tea waste derived activated carbon

Adsorption using activated carbon derived from various biological precursor materials has become a growing field of research. In the present study, an effective adsorbent has been developed through the carbonization of waste tea leaves to remove acetaminophen from its aqueous solution. The prepared adsorbent had been characterized by using various physic chemical methods. The adsorbent was found to have an acetaminophen adsorption capacity of 99.42 mg/g at pH, initial concentration, adsorbent concentration, temperature, particle size and agitation speed of 3, 100 mg/L, 1 g/L, 30°C, 105.5 μm and 200 rpm respectively. The adsorption of acetaminophen was found to be exothermic in nature. The equilibrium and kinetic data were found to follow Langmuir isotherm and pseudo second order kinetics. The monolayer adsorption capacity was found to be 195.95 mg/g. The Acetaminophen desorption efficiency of the activated carbon was found to be 97.97%.