Amenability of sugarcane bagacillo to chemical activation for gold (I) BIS-Thiourea adsorption

Chemical techniques were employed to activate bagacillo for the adsorption of gold (1) bis-thiourea. Adsorption capacities achieved for chemically activated bagacillo from this study were in the range of 10-188 milligrams of gold per gram of activated carbon (mg Au/g AC). Surface area, pH of carbon and ash contents were determined to be key characteristic::, that influenced the adsorption capacities. Adsorption results for chemically activated bagacillo compared well with commercially available activated carbons, which have been reported to have adsorption capacities in the range of 188-322 mg Au/g AC. In comparison with physically activated bagacillo, which have been found to have adsorption capacities from 296-318 mg Au/g AC, chemically activated carbon faired poorly. Overall, the results suggest that sugarcane bagacillo is amenable to activation processes, however physical activation produced better adsorbents for gold (I) bis-thiourea adsorption than chemical activation.