The wastewater containing complexed copper produced by chemical copper plating has always been a challenge in industrial wastewater treatment. Activated carbon, with its high strength, developed porosity, and large specific surface area, is widely used in the field of electroplating wastewater treatment. This study uses solid waste gasification ash as raw material and prepares activated carbon, investigating its adsorption performance and influencing factors on copper ions and complexed copper ions. The results show that the activated carbon from coal gasification ash (AC) has different adsorption effects on Cu²⁺, copper-ammonia complex (Cu-NH₃), copper-citrate complex (Cu-Cit), and copper-EDTA complex (Cu-EDTA), with the adsorption capacity being in the order of Cu²⁺ > Cu-EDTA > Cu-NH₃ > Cu-Cit, and their respective adsorption capacities are 40.94, 33.98, 28.87, and 23.70 mg/g. The adsorption process of AC on Cu²⁺, Cu-NH₃, Cu-Cit, and Cu-EDTA is more consistent with the second-order kinetic model, and the adsorption isotherm is more in line with the Langmuir model. Characterization methods such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Specific Surface Area measurement (BET), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) indicate that AC mainly presents an irregular shape, with a certain amount of porosity on the surface; it has a large specific surface area and contains a large number of functional groups such as hydroxyl groups on the surface.

Miao Jiahui. Preparation of Activated Carbon Materials from Coal Gasification Ash and Removal of Complexed Copper. Academic Journal of Materials & Chemistry (2024) Vol. 5, Issue 2: 37-45. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJMC.2024.050207.

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