Deposition of zinc in activated carbon from anthracite and palm-oil shell activated by zinc chloride

Abstract

The research was the study of deposition of zine in the process of preparation of activated carbon from anthracite and palm-oil shell by zine chloride activation in a fixed bed reactor. The palm-oil shell was cabonized at 400 °C for 1 hr. Then, the chars and anthracite were soaked in zinc chloride solution before activation. The studied variables were temperature, time, palm-oil shell char particle size and concentration of zine chloride. The optimum condition for activation was 1.18-2.36 mm of palm-oil shell char and anthracite for the particle size of 0.80-0.90 mm, at 800°C for 3hr, 40% concentration of zine chloride. The prepared activated carbon from anthracite gave yield of 30.13%, bulk density of 0.5879 g/cm³ , iodine number of 860.35 mg/g, methylene blue number of 583.03 mg/g, B.E.T. surface area of 1026.99 m² /g and 0.20% deposition of zinc. For the prepared activated carbon from palm-oil shell obtained yield of 33.83%, bulk density of 0.5063 g/cm³ , iodine number of 1069.10 mg/g, methylene blue number of 600.25 mg/g, B.E.T. surface area of 1099.10 m² /g and 0.20% deposition of zinc. This activated carbon prepared from two types of raw material, could be used in commercial (iodine adsorption at least 600 mg/g) and food grade industry, because it has very low concentration of zine in product which is acceptable.