The oxygen-rich activated carbon (AC) was facilely developed using petroleum coke as a raw material by KOH activation under the rapid heating rate. The porosity and surface chemistry of ACs prepared under different heating rates were characterized and their adsorption properties for methylene blue (MB) were investigated. The results showed that the AC5 prepared under the heating rate of 5 °C min−1 had the highest surface area compared with the AC10, AC15 or AC20, while the AC20 prepared under the heating rate of 20 °C min−1 consisted of the highest oxygen content and most –OH functional group compares with the other ACs. These indicated that rapid heating rate was against the formation of more developed porosity, however, it was beneficial to producing more oxygen functional groups. As to MB adsorption, AC15 exhibited the maximum adsorption capacity for MB of 884 mg g−1 due to high surface area of 2803 m2 g−1 and high oxygen content of 23.27%. Moreover, despite the fact that AC20 had much lower surface area than the AC5, the AC20 showed higher MB adsorption capacity than the AC5. This was because the AC20 has the highest content of –OH, which was a positive impetus for MB adsorption. Therefore, rapid heating rate was an effective and simple approach to preparing the oxygen-rich ACs for improving the adsorption capacity of MB.

Activated carbon was prepared from pre-carbonized petroleum coke. Textural properties were determined from studies of the adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K and the surface chemistry was obtained using the Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer technique and the Boehm titration process. The adsorption of three aromatic compounds, namely phenol (P), p-nitrophenol (PNP) and benzoic acid (BA) onto APC in aqueous solution was studied in a batch system with respect to contact time, pH, initial concentration of solutes and temperature. Active carbon APC obtained was found to possess a high surface area and a predominantly microporous structure; it also had an acidic surface character. The experimental data fitted the pseudo-second-order kinetic model well; also, the intraparticle diffusion was the only controlling process in determining the adsorption of the three pollutants investigated. The adsorption data fit well with the Langmuir and Freundlich models. The uptake of the three pollutants was found to be strongly dependent on the pH value and the temperature of the solution. Most of the experiments were conducted at pH 7; the pH(PZC) of the active carbon under study was 5.0; the surface of the active carbon was negatively charged. The thermodynamic parameters evaluated for APC revealed that the adsorption of P was spontaneous and exothermic in nature, while PNP and BA showed no-spontaneity of the adsorption process and that process was endothermic in nature.