Effects of Activated Carbon Particle Sizes on Caffeine Adsorptions

The effect of activated carbon particle diameter (i.e. US sieve No. $8{\times}10$ ($d_p{\approx}2.19mm$), $18{\times}20$ ($d_p{\approx}0.92mm$), $50{\times}60$ ($d_p{\approx}0.27mm$) and $170{\times}200$ ($d_p{\approx}0.081mm$) on caffeine adsorption is investigated. BET surface area was increased with decreasing particle diameter ($d_p$), and caffeine adsorption rates increased with decreasing $d_p$. Moreover, pseudo-second order model is predicted the experimental data more accurately than pseudo-first order model, and the fastest rate constant ($k_2$) was $1.7g\;mg^{-1}min^{-1}$ when $d_p$ was 0.081 mm. Surface diffusion coefficient (Ds) was decreased with decreasing $d_p$ based on the minimum sum of square error (SSE). Practically, certain ranges of Ds are acceptable with high reliability ($R^2$) and it is determined that the effect of $d_p$ on Ds is unclear. The effect of pH on caffeine adsorption indicated the dependency of m/L ratio (mass liquid ratio) and $pH_{pzc}$. The $pH_{pzc}$ (i.e. $7.9{\pm}0.2$) was not affected by $d_p$. The higher caffeine adsorption at pH 4 and pH 7 than at pH 10 is due to $pH_{pzc}$, not $pk_a$ of caffeine.

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