Waste-to-Value Upcycling of Domestic PET Bottles Into High-Surface-Area Activated Carbon: Box-Behnken Optimization and Comprehensive Structural Characterization


Özçelik G., KURTULBAŞ ŞAHİN E., ŞAHİN SEVGİLİ S.

ChemistrySelect, cilt.11, sa.8, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 11 Sayı: 8
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1002/slct.202506951
  • Dergi Adı: ChemistrySelect
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Chemical Abstracts Core
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: box-behnken design, carbonization, KOH activation, sustainable recycling
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa Adresli: Evet

Özet

The growing environmental concerns and the urgent need for recycling PET waste have driven the development of value-added products from these materials. This study reports the production of high surface area activated carbon (AC) from domestic PET bottle waste through carbonization and KOH activation. A box-Behnken response surface design was applied to optimize the selected as independent variables such as carbonization temperature (500–600 °C), KOH impregnation rate (1–4 g/g) and activation temperature (600–800 °C). The optimum conditions (501 °C, 3.774 g/g, and 794 °C) yielded a maximum BET surface area of 894.769 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.485 cm3/g. Characterization by FTIR, TGA, XRD, and SEM confirmed the formation of amorphous, microporous, and highly porous carbon structures comparable to commercial AC. The study shows that environmentally friendly and high surface area adsorbent materials can be produced by recycling waste PET bottles. This can make a significant contribution to the sustainable use of plastic waste.