Buriti (Mauritia flexuosa L.) is a palm tree belonging to Arecaceae
family and has Amazonian origin, it can be found over a wide area
including countries as Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, Guyanas,
Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. The buriti tree grows in flooded areas and
may reach 35 m high. Its fruits measure about 5.0 cm of diameter,
and are covered with reddish-brown scales, when ripe. The fruit
pulp has been marketed and used for production of oils, wines, ice
creams, among other products [26]. In turn, the shells of buriti
fruits becomes a residue, which has not commercial value and an
appropriated disposal, showing be a potential precursor for
production of activated carbons. Therefore, the aim of the present
study was to prepare AC from buriti shells by chemical activation
using ZnCl2 in the presence of CO2 and its application in adsorption
studies for methylene blue dye (MB) removal. The resulting
activated carbon ACb was further characterized by N2 adsorption–
desorption isotherms, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
(FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).