Research Article Synthesis and Characterization of Activated Carbon from Agrowastes for the Removal of Acetic Acid from an Aqueous Solution Joel Brian Njewa , 1,2 Timothy Tiwonge Biswick, 1 Ephraim Vunain , 1 Cheruiyot Silas Lagat , 2 and Solomon Omwoma Lugasi 2 1 University of Malawi, Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 280, Zomba, Malawi 2 Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, Department of Physical Science, P.O. Box 210-40601, Bondo, Kenya Correspondence should be addressed to Joel Brian Njewa; njewajoel@gmail.com Received 13 January 2022; Revised 27 March 2022; Accepted 18 May 2022; Published 6 June 2022 Academic Editor: Eloy S. Sanz Copyright © 2022 Joel Brian Njewa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In this study, activated carbons prepared from agrowastes by chemical activation were used to remove acetic acid from an aqueous solution through a batch process. The prepared adsorbents were characterized by SEM, XRD, FT-IR, and point of zero charge (pHpzc). The effects of adsorbent dosage, initial concentration, and contact time were considered. Equilibrium data was tested using Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Frenkel–Halsey–Hill models. The degree of adsorption of acetic acid increased for both adsorbents as contact time, and adsorbent dosage and initial concentration were increased. The adsorption data were described well by the (Freundlich=Frenkel–Halsey–Hill) models with the highest regression coefficient of R 2 =0:9961 and R 2 = 0:9951 for Rice Husk Activated Carbon (RH-AC) and Potato Peels Activated Carbon (PP-AC), respectively. This suggests a multilayer through the existence of a heterogeneous pore distribution in the adsorbent surface. Kinetic data agreed well with pseudosecond-order (R 2 =0:999 and R 2 =0:994) RH-AC and PP-AC, correspondingly. This indicates that the adsorption process was chemisorption in nature. The regeneration studies showed that the adsorbents prepared could be renewed and reused before losing their adsorbing affinity for acetic acid. 1. Introduction Manufacturing industries still remain the backbone of the economy in both developing and developed countries. However, of late, rapid industrial growth has resulted into disastrous environmental damage and pollution. Effluents originating from manufacturing industries flowing into water bodies have result into surface and groundwater pollu- tion [1]. Studies done in Egypt and Malaysia, for example, have detected a large array of chemical pollutants of indus- trial origin exceeding the permissible limits for wastewater. Among wastewater pollutants are organic and inorganic che- micals, heavy metals, petrochemicals, chloroform, and bacte- ria [2–4]. Most of the organic pollutants normally experience an oxidation process producing carboxylic acids such as dicarboxylic acids as final products. Maleic, acetic, and oxalic acids are well-known examples of dicarboxylic acids. Research findings have shown that high levels of these acids in potable water result into despicable health problems to human beings such as kidney stones, uremia, corrosion of enamel and mouth, vomiting, and hematemesis, just to men- tion a few [5]. Acetic acid, in particular, is among the organic com- pounds recently reported in wastewater as a contaminant despite it being a key component very useful in various industrial processes such as the manufacturing of high- grade phosphate fertilizer, as a rust proofing agent of iron metals, and as baking powder as well as phosphate syrup used in soft drinks or as a water softening agent [1]. There are several techniques which are used in order to remove organic pollutants in water, main of which include the fol- lowing: phytoremediation, bioremediation, reductive and Hindawi Adsorption Science & Technology Volume 2022, Article ID 7701128, 13 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7701128