Activated carbon is the most widely used adsorbent for wastewater treatment and water pollution control.
Lignocellulosic precursors obtained from crops and fruits offer several advantages for synthesizing
activated carbons due to its wide availability and their interesting physicochemical properties. In particular,
biomass of plum kernel and jacaranda are alternative lignocellulosic precursors for activated carbon
preparation. This study reports the application of Prunus domestica and Jacaranda mimosifolia biomass for
the synthesis of activated carbons to remove commercial dyes (i.e., AB25 and methylene blue) and Pb2+
ions from aqueous solutions. Two different methodologies for the preparation of activated carbons were
analyzed, namely, direct carbonization at 800 ◦C and the impregnation of the biomass with a calcium
solution extracted from egg shell wastes prior to carbonization. Results indicated that both carbonization
and activation processes improved the uptake of lead, acid blue 25 and methylene blue up to 10
times with respect to adsorption results obtained for raw precursors. Characterization of raw precursors
and activated carbons by several techniques were used to understand the adsorption results obtained
in this study. Overall, activated carbons obtained from plum kernels showed the best performance for
the removal of these priority water pollutants. The adsorption capacities of plum kernel adsorbents are
higher (up to 100%) than those obtained for adsorbents prepared from jacaranda