Abstract
The social economy's rapid expansion and unprecedented population growth are significantly contributing to environmental issues. Contamination of soil and water by heavy metals is a major environmental problem. Activated carbon synthesized from biomass possesses several qualities, including a large specific surface area, a hierarchically porous structure, robust adsorption capability, and high economic value. Wood sawdust, a plentiful agricultural by-product, was used to chemically produce activated carbon (AC). Lead removal from industrial wastewater was examined using this AC. The Langmuir and Freundlich models, along with first- and second-order kinetics, were applied for kinetic analysis. The novelty of this work lies in the combination of moderate-temperature chemical activation (600 °C) with Iraqi wood sawdust, achieving a remarkably high surface area (1477.54 m2/g) compared to most previously reported biomass-derived adsorbents. Results showed an impressive maximum adsorption capacity of 177.54 mg/g. This value compares favorably with many recently reported biomass-derived adsorbents. The boundary layer effect occurs, and the adsorption of Pb follows pseudo-second-order kinetics.