Preparation and Characterization of Single and Mixed Activated Carbons Derived from Coconut Shell and Palm Kernel Shell through Chemical Activation Using Microwave Irradiation System

2017 ◽  
Vol 889 ◽  
pp. 215-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Anis Mohd Amran ◽  
Khudzir Ismail ◽  
Azil Bahari Alias ◽  
Syed Shatir Asghrar Syed-Hassan ◽  
Ali H. Jawad

Single and mixed coconut shell (CS) and palm kernel shell (PKS) were successfully converted to activated carbon by using potassium hydroxide (KOH) as activating agent. Mixed activated carbon was produced from coconut shell: palm kernel shell at different KOH concentrations of 30%, 40% and 50%. Activation process was performed in a conventional microwave oven at fixed power and time of 600W and 20 minutes respectively. The results showed that activated carbon produced from single and mixed biomass at 40% concentration of KOH exhibited higher adsorption capacity for iodine number and percentage removal of MB with comparison to 30% and 50% of KOH concentrations. The highest BET surface area of 441.19 m2/g was obtained by CSAc-40. Further both CSAc-40 and PKSAc-40 produced an average pore size diameter of less than 2.0 nm which is in the range of micropore region. On contrary, the mixed CSPKSAc-40 produced an average pore size diameter of 6.0 nm which is in the region of mesopore. All the CSAc-40, PKSAc-40 and mixed CSPKSAc-40 showed similar adsorption trend for iodine number and percentage removal of MB. Interestingly, this finding showed that in the mixed activated carbon some chemical reactions might have occurred during the activation process producing mesoporous instead of microporous as obtained by the single biomass activated carbon.

Nanomaterials ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Nicholas ◽  
Mohd Hussein ◽  
Zulkarnain Zainal ◽  
Tumirah Khadiran

The preparation of activated carbon using palm kernel shells as the precursor (PKSAC) was successfully accomplished after the parametric optimization of the carbonization temperature, carbonization holding time, and the ratio of the activator (H3PO4) to the precursor. Optimization at 500 °C for 2 h of carbonization with 20% H3PO4 resulted in the highest surface area of the activated carbon (C20) of 1169 m2 g−1 and, with an average pore size of 27 Å. Subsequently, the preparation of shape-stabilized phase change material (SSPCM-C20) was done by the encapsulation of n-octadecane into the pores of the PKSAC, C20. The field emission scanning electron microscope images and the nitrogen gas adsorption-desorption isotherms show that n-octadecane was successfully encapsulated into the pores of C20. The resulting SSPCM-C20 nano-composite shows good thermal reliability which is chemically and thermally stable and can stand up to 500 melting and freezing cycles. This research work provided a new strategy for the preparation of SSPCM material for thermal energy storage application generated from oil palm waste.


2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-104
Author(s):  
A. Nyamful ◽  
E. K. Nyogbe ◽  
L. Mohammed ◽  
M. N. Zainudeen ◽  
S. A. Darkwa ◽  
...  

Palm kernel shell and coconut shell are used as a precursor for the production of activated carbon, a way of mitigating the tons of waste produced in Ghana. The raw Palm kernel shell and coconut shell were activated chemically using H3PO4. A maximum activated carbon yield of 26.3 g was obtained for Palm kernel shell and 22.9 g for coconut shell at 400oC, an impregnation ratio of 1.2 and 1-hour carbonization time. Scanning electron microscopy reveals well-developed cavities of the H3PO4 activated coconut shell and Palm kernel shell compared to the non-activated carbon. Iodine number of 743.02 mg/g and 682.11 mg/g, a porosity of 0.31 and 0.49 and the electrical conductivity of 2010 μS/cm and 778 μS /cm were obtained for the AC prepared from the coconut shell and Palm kernel shell respectively. The results of this work show that high-quality activated carbon can be manufactured locally from coconut shell and Palm kernel shell waste, and a scale-up of this production will go a long way to reduce the tons of coconut shell and Palm kernel shell waste generated in the country.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaiyot Tangsathitkulchai ◽  
Supunnee Junpirom ◽  
Juejun Katesa

The uptake data of CO2 adsorption at 273 K by coconut shell chars prepared at various carbonization temperatures from 250 to 550°C were used for characterizing pore texture of chars as well as the analysis of CO2 adsorption kinetics. The equilibrium isotherms were used to determine the porous texture of chars, employing the DR equation and GCMC simulation. It was found that all the test chars contain micropores of a size range from 0.8 to 2.2 nm with the pore size distribution becoming wider for char prepared at a higher carbonization temperature. Porous properties of chars, including surface area, total pore volume, and the average pore size, appear to increase with an increasing carbonization temperature. The analysis of CO2 uptake during the transient measurement of isotherms revealed that the kinetics of CO2 adsorption is governed by the internal diffusional transport of the adsorptive molecules. The effective pore diffusivity characterizing this transport process increases with increasing CO2 loading and passes through a maximum at a certain loading. This maximum pore diffusivity shifts to a higher value as the carbonization temperature is increased. A semiempirical equation was developed to correlate the effective pore diffusivity of CO2 with the equilibrium adsorption loading and its predictive capability is satisfactory.


2014 ◽  
Vol 705 ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
Noor Shawal Nasri ◽  
Ramlan Noorshaheeda ◽  
Usman Dadum Hamza ◽  
Jibril Mohammed ◽  
Murtala Musa Ahmed ◽  
...  

Potential agro wastes (i.e palm kernel shell and coconut shell) for producing low cost activated carbon (AC) was investigated. In this study, the activated carbon was produced by carbonization, chemical impregnation with KOH and microwave irradiation. The pyrolysis was carried out at 700 °C in an inert environment for 2 h. Microwave activation was carried out at 400W for 6 minutes. Characteristics of the material were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis and scanning electrode microscopy (SEM). Methane adsorption equilibrium data on the activated carbons produced were obtained using static volumetric method. Microwave palm shell activated carbon (MPAC) and microwave coconut shell activated carbon (MCAC) recorded highest methane uptake of 2.489 and 1.929 mmol/g at 3 bar, 30°C. The adsorption data were correlated with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The results shows that microwave activated carbon from palm shell and coconut shell have good methane adsorption characteristics.


Author(s):  
Yuvarat Ngernyen ◽  
Werawit Phiewruangnont ◽  
Narathorn Mahantadsanapong ◽  
Chantakorn Patawat ◽  
Ketsara Silakate ◽  
...  

Dipterocarpus alatus tree grows prolifically throughout Thailand and can be tapped to yield significant quantities of oil to be used as natural diesel. However, such practices lead to waste dried fruit dropping from the tree. At present, there is no utilization of this dropped fruit, therefore costeffective processes need to be applied to obtain higher value products from this waste. A possible to utilization is the conversion to activated carbon for adsorption applications including the removal of heavy metals, dyes, and other contaminants in water purification and other decontamination process. A major challenge of current commercial activated carbon is the high production cost and recently it has been shown that chemical activators comprise a significant proportion of these costs. This feasibility study investigates the use of Dipterocarpus alatus fruit as raw material to produce low cost activated carbon adsorbents. Activated carbon was prepared from Dipterocarpus alatus fruit: endocarp, mesocarp, and wing by chemical activation with ZnCl2, FeCl3, and KOH. Each part of the fruit was impregnated with 30 wt% activating agent at a ratio of 1:2 for 1 h and then carbonized at 500 oC for a further 1 h. The surface area, pore volume, and average pore size of the resulting carbons were characterized by nitrogen gas adsorption. Activation of mesocarp with ZnCl2, KOH, and FeCl3 gave activated carbons with the surface area of 447, 256, and 199 m2/g, respectively. In the same way, ZnCl2 activation gave a maximum surface area of 312 and 278 m2/g for wing and endocarp, respectively. All of the aforementioned samples have an average pore size of around 2 nm. In contrast, KOH and FeCl3 activation of wing and endocarp produced activated carbon with very low surface area (below 25 m2/g), but with an average pore size of 5- 14 nm. The maximum surface area of activated carbon prepared from Dipterocarpus alatus fruit was higher than some literature examples for activated carbon from other biomass. Consequently, Dipterocarpus alatus fruit demonstrated significant potential as a feedstock for the preparation of low cost activated carbons.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shyam Lakshmanan ◽  
Yen Li Yung

Abstract Activated carbon (AC) from coal, coconut and palm kernel shell was regenerated after adsorbing chlorate from chlor-alkali plant brine solutions. Hydrochloric acid (HCl) of 17% w/w concentration showed the ability to regenerate AC, with some chlorine gas being released. Regeneration with HCl yielded enhanced adsorption of chlorate. AC from coconut shell adsorbed chlorate better than coal and palm kernel shell AC. Higher chlorate concentration in the influent and lower influent pH resulted in better adsorption. Regeneration of the AC with 17% w/w HCl reduced chlorate to chlorine derivatives. The AC released 107 mg/g of chlorine during the first regeneration and 160–178 mg/g after the second regeneration. During regeneration, coal AC released the highest amount of chlorine at 0.51–0.59 mg/g of chlorate adsorbed followed by palm kernel shell with 0.34–0.36 mg/g, while coconut shell AC released 0.18 mg/g. Scanning electron micrograph of the coconut shell AC carried out after each regeneration showed the structure of AC remained intact, with active sites surfacing on the regenerated AC. Using AC for chlorate adsorption followed by regeneration with 17% w/w HCl may reduce the release of brine and chlorate to the environment from chlor-alkali plants.


2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-94
Author(s):  
Shyam Lakshmanan ◽  
Thanabalan Murugesan

Chlorates are present in the brine stream purged from chlor-alkali plants. Tests were conducted using activated carbon from coconut shell, coal or palm kernel shell to adsorb chlorate. The results show varying levels of adsorption with reduction ranging between 1.3 g/L and 1.8 g/L. This was higher than the chlorate generation rate of that plant, recorded at 1.22 g/L, indicating that chlorate can be adequately removed by adsorption using activated carbon. Coconut based activated carbon exhibited the best adsorption of chlorate of the three types of activated carbon tested. Introducing an adsorption step prior to purging of the brine will be able to reduce chlorate content in the brine stream. The best location for introducing the adsorption step was identified to be after dechlorination of the brine and before resaturation. Introduction of such an adsorption step will enable complete recovery of the brine and prevent brine purging, which in turn will result in less release of chlorides and chlorates to the environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 920
Author(s):  
Muhammad Adlim ◽  
Ratu Fazlia Inda Rahmayani ◽  
Fitri Zarlaida ◽  
Latifah Hanum ◽  
Maily Rizki ◽  
...  

This study explored a simple preparation and characterization of the activated carbon and cloth from the palm kernel shell and compared it to the commercial-water-filter-carbon specification. A new pyrolysis chamber that is easily scaled up using the palm kernel shell itself as a heat source was tested. Two different steps were compared: the alkaline activation process performed before or after the carbonation process in the palm-kernel-shell carbon preparation. The palm-kernel-shell activated carbons prepared with the current method fulfilled the standard quality of activated charcoal except for the ash content. The sequencing step of the preparation affected the adsorption capacity. Instead of the reverse sequence, the soaking palm kernel shells in NaOH before the carbonation process lead to a higher adsorption capacity. The carbon particle stability on the cloth surface was affected by both the adhesive concentration and its size. The ammonia adsorption capacity of activated carbon cloth (ACC) was between 1–4 mg ammonia per g stuck carbon. The preparation and the carbon type source on ACC affected the adsorption capacity. The ACC absorbed and lessened the skim latex odor vapor, nearly odorless depending on the ACC area and the volume of odor vapor.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (21) ◽  
pp. 5028
Author(s):  
Kalu Samuel Ukanwa ◽  
Kumar Patchigolla ◽  
Ruben Sakrabani ◽  
Edward Anthony

This study explores the use of a novel activating agent and demonstrates the production and characterisation of activated carbon (AC) from a combine palm waste (CPW) in 3:2:1 proportion by weight of empty fruit bunch, mesocarp fibre and palm kernel shell. The resulting biomass was processed by a microwave-assisted method using trona and compared with material produced by conventional routes. These results demonstrate the potential of trona ore as an activating agent and the effectiveness of using a combined palm waste for a single stream activation process. It also assesses the effectiveness of trona ore in the elimination of alcohol, acids and aldehydes; with a focus on increasing the hydrophilicity of the resultant AC. The optimum results for the conventional production technique at 800 °C yielded a material with SBET 920 m2/g, Vtotal 0.840 cm3/g, a mean pore diameter of 2.2 nm and an AC yield 40%. The optimum outcome of the microwave assisted technique for CPW was achieved at 600 W, SBET is 980 m2/g; Vtotal 0.865 cm3/g; a mean pore diameter 2.2 nm and an AC yield of 42%. Fourier transform infrared spectrometry analyses showed that palm waste can be combined to produce AC and that trona ore has the capacity to significantly enhance biomass activation.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document