An effective pre-burning treatment boosting adsorption capacity of sorghum distillers' grain derived porous carbon

Excellent performance of porous carbon adsorbents on wastewater treatment is always stimulating continuous researches to acquire better porous carbon materials by renewable, low-cost and more effective routes. Here, we choose sustainable sorghum distillers' grains (SDGs) as carbon source and utilize a pre-burning treatment plus KOH activation procedure to prepare porous carbon. The pre-burning treatment is demonstrated effective on boosting pores formation and increasing surface area of the prepared porous carbon. The maximum Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 1965 m 2 g −1 can be achieved. The adsorption capacity of the prepared porous carbon for methylene blue (MB) is evaluated and a maximum adsorption capacity of 2276.3 mg g −1 is acquired (increasing by 47% than that of one without pre-burning). The XPS and FTIR evaluations reveal that the pre-burning can also raise surficial oxygen-contained groups, which as active sites boost the MB adsorption. • Recyclable sorghum distillers' grain is used as the carbon precursor. • A pre-burning treatment is introduced into KOH activation strategy. • The pre-burning boosts pores formation and raises the special surface area. • The final carbon with the pre-burning shows super adsorption capacity for MB.