Abstract
The study uses ultrasonic-assisted chemical activation to describe an eco-friendly method for producing activated carbon with high specific surface area and porosity from high lignin-content palm kernel shells. The low activation temperature of 600 °C with the ultrasonic interaction was able to show excellent phenol and methylene blue adsorption, 72.67% and 67.52%, respectively. Carbonisation was carried out at 600 °C using argon gas to produce char, while chemical activation took place with the ultrasonic impregnation of 30% potassium hydroxide. During the activation phase, inert gas is reused as the oxidising agent at temperatures that vary from 600 to 750 and up to 900 °C. Palm kernel shell–activated carbon was characterised based on proximate analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), respectively. The adsorption of methylene, phenol, and iodine by activated carbon was studied in this study in order to investigate the porous structure. The maximum specific surface area and highest iodine adsorption of activated carbon prepared at 750 °C with 40 min of ultrasonic impregnation were 138.21 m2/g and 45.36%, respectively. In addition, the highest phenol adsorption was shown by activated carbon prepared at 600 °C with 40 min of ultrasonic impregnation, up to 72.67%. Meanwhile, the activated carbon was prepared at 600 °C activation temperature with 120 min of ultrasonic impregnation, resulting in the highest methylene blue adsorption, 67.52%. Furthermore, the demonstrated ultrasonic-assisted chemical activation approach has been demonstrated to be more effective than previous activation methods for producing activated carbon from palm kernel shells at low activation temperatures.
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Abbreviations
- IN:
-
Number of iodine adsorbed by activated carbon (IN)
- q eq :
-
Amount of adsorption corresponding to methylene blue solution (mg/g)
- q e :
-
Amount of adsorption corresponding to phenol solution (mg/g)
- S BET :
-
Surface area using iodine number (m2/g)
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The research team would like to acknowledge Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) for making their Laboratory available during the preparation and analysis of the sample.
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TA, conceptualization, experimentation, and writing of the manuscript. AY helped in refining and reviewing and editing. NA supervised and provided resources and facilities for this work. AY, validation, methodology, and editing. HK, conceptualization, data curation, and editing. NFCP, review and editing in the first and revised version. SR, bibliography, methodology, and editing. MNMH helped in reviewing, editing, and finalising this manuscript.
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Arumugham, T., Yuniarto, A., Abdullah, N. et al. Preparation and characterisation of porous activated carbon using potassium hydroxide chemical activation with ultrasonic association. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-05201-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-05201-w