Effect of activation by oxidizing gas and alkaline solution on properties of activated carbon from Para wood

Abstract

This research was the study of the effect of activation by oxidizing gas and alkaline solution on properties of activated carbon from Para wood. The experiment was included both carbonization and activation. The variable studied was temperature (350-450 ํC) and carbonized time (45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes) in carbonization step. The suitable carbonization condition was at temperature 400 ํC for 45 minutes with 27.51 % yield, 70.46 % fixed carbon, 25.89 % volatile matter and 2.31 % ash. Para wood char was activated by oxidizing gas and by alkaline solution such as KOH and NaOH. Studied variables were activation temperature, activation time and size of Para wood char including ratio of char per alkaline. The experimental results were found that the suitable condition for physical activation was 800 ํC in 3 hours using char from Para wood sized of 0.60-1.18 mm. Activated carbon obtained were 44.44% yield, 0.21 g/cm[superscript 3] bulk density, 7.33% ash, iodine number 512 mg/g and methylene blue number 154 mg/g. Whereas the suitable condition for chemical activation both using KOH and NaOH as activating agent was 700 ํC for 3 hours using char from Para wood size 0.60-1.18 m. Activated carbon prepared from KOH gave higher quality than NaOH because stronger alkaline, NaOH developed larger pores size. The activated carbon obtained by using KOH was 48% yield, 0.1138 g/cm[superscript 3] bulk density, 5.236% ash, iodine number 1069 mg/g, methylene blue number202 mg/g and BET surface are 943.35 m[superscript 2]/g whereas using NaOH gave lower properties.