In present work, mustard straw, an abundantly available agricultural residue in various parts of globe, is used to prepare a low-cost activated carbon by chemical activation using phosphoric acid. Response surface methodology is employed for optimization of adsorption of methylene blue dye onto mustard straw-activated carbon (MSAC). Central composite design is employed to evaluate the effect of three production variables namely activation temperature (400–800 °C), activation time (60–120 min), and impregnation ratio (2–7), on adsorption capacities of activated carbon to maximize methylene blue dye removal from its aqueous solution. Among the three process variables, activation time showed prominent effect on the response whereas the effect of activation temperature was relatively less significant on adsorption capacity of MB. The optimum conditions obtained for MSAC are activation temperature, 768 °C; activation time, 60 min; and impregnation ratio, 4.2, which leads to 198 mg g⁻¹ adsorption capacity of methylene blue. The model predicted and experimental value for response were highly comparable. Characterization of MSAC was done using several analytical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy techniques, and reusability up to five adsorption-desorption cycles was tested. The results showed that MSAC obtained has highly porous structure comparable with activated carbon obtained from other biomass feed stocks.

在目前的工作中，芥末秸秆是一种在全球各地广泛使用的农业残留物，被用来通过使用磷酸的化学活化来制备低成本的活性炭。响应面方法用于优化亚甲基蓝染料在芥菜秸秆活性炭（MSAC）上的吸附。采用中央复合材料设计来评估三个生产变量，即活化温度（400–800°C），活化时间（60–120分钟）和浸渍比（2–7）对活性炭吸附能力的影响，以使其最大化从其水溶液中除去亚甲蓝染料。在这三个过程变量中，活化时间对响应有显着影响，而活化温度对MB吸附能力的影响相对较小。MSAC获得的最佳条件是活化温度768°C；激活时间为60分钟；和浸渍比4.2，导致198 mg g亚甲蓝的吸附能力为^-1。该模型的预测值和响应的实验值具有很高的可比性。MSAC的表征是使用几种分析技术完成的，例如傅立叶变换红外光谱和场发射扫描电子显微镜技术，并测试了多达五个吸附-解吸循环的可重复使用性。结果表明，所获得的MSAC具有与从其他生物质原料获得的活性炭相当的高度多孔的结构。