Lignin-derived porous carbon with interconnected pores for bulky dye adsorption in fixed-bed systems

The porous structure of adsorbents is an important factor of their adsorption performance, especially in fixed-bed systems. In this study, we fabricated lignin-derived porous carbon (LPC-Mg) with interconnected pores, which exhibited low resistance for the transport of contaminants in water. The maximum adsorption capacity of LPC-Mg toward Rhodamine B (RhB) and Congo red (CR) was 403.2 and 735.3 mg·g −1 in the batch adsorption mode and 330.5 and 718.6 mg·g −1 in the column adsorption mode. Microporous, hierarchical porous, and commercial activated carbon were used as carbonaceous adsorbents for comparison. The RhB and CR adsorption capacity of LPC-Mg was 1.8–26.6 and 4.0–33.6 times those of other carbonaceous adsorbents at the breakthrough points in fixed-bed systems, respectively. This study developed an effective strategy toward the improvement in the adsorption efficiency of carbon-based adsorbents in fixed-bed systems.