Sugar decolorization through activated carbon made from agricultural by-product based waste material

Activated carbons made-up from agricultural and industrial waste are new adsorbents, which seem very promising for water and air treatment. In this work, the activated carbons made-up from waste tea were tested for their ability to adsorb the sugar color from aqueous solution. The possible use of powdered activated waste tea (PAWT) as the adsorbents of sugar colour from their aqueous solutions and the effect of operating parameters were investigated. Increasing the temperature affects the adsorption capacity of the sugar colour. The adsorption process was found to be endothermic in nature. The physical and chemical properties of the activated carbon were analyzed using standard methods. The electrochemical study of one of the sugar colourant (glycine) is also performed. The results indicated that the powdered activated waste tea can be used as an effective adsorbent material for sugar decolourization.