I am on research about activated carbon using peanut shells as the raw materials. Based on commonly similar research I referenced, ZnCl2 is the best chemical compound used to chemically activate the peanut shells carbons (for many reasons I agreed), but then why we have to use HCl or hydrochloric acid to wash the activated carbon samples? because I haven't found any clear reason in using HCl to wash the AC that activated by ZnCl2