Single-step synthesis of eucalyptus sawdust magnetic activated carbon and its adsorption behavior for methylene blue

existed in the pores and surfaces of the MAC. The MB adsorption on the MAC followed the Langmuir isotherm and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm model, the adsorption process was a spontaneous, endothermic chemisorption progress, followed by the pseudo-second-order model, and the adsorption process was influenced by multiple diffusion steps, the pore diffusion process was the rate-controlling step, however, the adsorption process was also affected by the film diffusion and surface adsorption. The results reveal that MAC efficiently adsorbs MB and can be easily separated and recovered by an external magnetic field. The as-prepared MAC could be used as a potential adsorbent for organic pollutant wastewater treatment.