3.1. Characterization of the prepared adsorbent
Nitrogen adsorption is a standard procedure for determination
of porosity of the carbonaceous adsorbents. The specific surface
area (SBET) was calculated by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET)
equation; the total pore volume (VT) was evaluated by converting
the adsorption volume of nitrogen at relative pressure of 0.95 to
equivalent liquid volume of the adsorbate, while the micropore
volume, micropore surface area and external surface area were deduced
using the t-plot method. Detailed characteristics of the
porosities of BFAC are listed in Table 2. From the data, it was evident
that the BET surface area, Langmuir surface area and total
pore volume of BFAC was 847.66 m2/g, 1297.40 m2/g and
0.726 cm3/g respectively. The mesopores of BFAC accounts about
77% of the total pore volume, with a well developed porous structure.
Pore size distribution (PSD) is an important property determines
the fraction of the total pore volume accessible to
molecules of a given size and shape. The corresponding pore size
distribution of BFAC was ascertained by Density Functional Theory