Effect of activation by carbon dioxide and superheated steam on properties of activated carbon from coconut shells

Abstract

The research was the study of the effect of activation by carbon dioxide and superheated steam on properties of activated carbon from coconut shells. The experiment work included two steps. The first step was carbonization at temperature range of 300-500°C. It was found that the optimum condition was 400°c for 60 min. The second step was activation by carbon dioxide and superheated steam. The studied variables were temperature, time, char particle size and the composition of carbon dioxide (%by weight). The optimum activation condition for particle size was 0.6 - 1.18 mm. 950°c, 60 min, the composition of carbon dioxide (%by weight) was 0.5 l/min by fixing flow rate of superheated steam and air at 10 g/min and 0.005 l/min, respectively. The prepared activated carbon from coconut shells obtained % yield of 31.31, bulk intensity of 0.5648 g/cm3, iodine number of 999 mg/g, methylene blue numbers of 188 mg/g and B.E.T. surface area of 996 m2/g. It was also found that the higher component of carbon dioxide caused lower iodine, methylene blue number and B.E.T surface area, because carbon dioxide played the important role to develop large pore size than superheated steam.