Preparation of activated carbon from petrochemical waste sludge by chemical and physical activation

Abstract

The research was the study of the effect of activation by petrochemical waste sludge by physical activation with superheated steam carbondioxide and chemical activation by suitable chemical with potassium hydroxide, phosphoric acid and zinc chloride on properties of activated carbon from sewage sludge. The experiment work included two steps. The first step was carbonization which was carried out in the temperature range of 375-450 ºC. It was found that the optimum condition was 400ºC for 90 min. The second step was activation by chemicals and physical activations. The study variables were temperature, time, and, char particle size form waste sludge. The optimum activation condition was chemical activation by zinc chloride; size 1.18-2.36 mm.at temperature 350 ºC 1 hour and flow rate of nitrogen of 250 ml/ min. The property of prepared activated carbon from waste sludge was % yield of 88.53, bulk density of 0.35 g/cm2, iodine number of 648.50 mg/g, methylene blue number of 296.13 mg/g, B.E.T. surface area of 551.23 m2/g.The prepared activated carbon from waste sludge from petrochemical could be the commercial grade, because the accepted standard iodine absorption is more than 600 mg/g.