these particles are most likely impurities introduced during preparation,such as particles of the salts formed during activation but they may also have a vegetable origin[42].An SEM image of the commercial activated carbon is shown in Fig.1.Many pores were clearly observed on the surface of the CAC. Both ASAC and CAC appear to have a large number of pores,and there is a good probability that the dye will become trapped and adsorbed in to these pores.The macropores are clearly visible,facilitatingtheeasydiffusionofalargenumberofdyemoleculesintotheporestructureandtheadsorptionofdyemoleculesontothesurfaceoftheadorbent.Theactivatedcarbonpreparedfromapricotstonesandthecommercialactivatedcarbonweremainlycomposedofcarbonandoxygen.Fig.1indicatesthepresenceof(C:82.76,O:16.94andP:0.3)and(C:88.70,O:10.82andS:0.48)insamplesoftheASACandCACadsorbents,respectively.NotabledifferenceswereobservedbetweenthecarboncontentsoftheASACandCACsamples.