Production of activated carbon from conventional sources poses substantial economic and fiscal challenges due to the considerably high cost of the precursor material. The following ongoing study aims to overcome the challenges by producing activated carbon from waste tea leaves using a combination of microwave assisted ZnCl2 activation and chemical modification. Initial characterization studies revealed a Methylene Blue Number of 467.2 mg/g and a pHzpc of 6.45. Batch adsorption tests determined that equilibrium adsorption was highest when 0.25g of adsorbent was added to 100ml of synthetic copper solution and maximum net copper ion removal efficiency of 94.2%. Langmuir isotherm demonstrated highest correlation to the experimental data whilst the thermodynamic studies determined the value of Gibbs free energy (ΔGO) and enthalpy (ΔHO) to be negative and positively respectively; proving the adsorption as spontaneous and endothermic in nature

Production of activated carbon from conventional sources poses substantial economic and fiscal challenges due to the considerably high cost of the precursor material. The following ongoing study aims to overcome the challenges by producing activated carbon from waste tea leaves using a combinatio...