Abstract. Babassu endocarp were used to prepare activated carbons by physical activation via microwave radiation for the first time. The pyrolysis temperature was 600°C and the derived biochar were activated in CO 2atmosphere at 700, 750 and 800°C for 30 min. The material was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The porous properties of the activated carbons obtained including the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, pore volume, and average pore diameter were determined by nitrogen adsorption isotherms at 77.32 K. The experimental results showed that most pores occurred during the activation predominantly as micropores. Endocarp babassu can be used as precursor to produce activated carbon with a rather well-developed porosity by pyrolysis and physical activation by two-steps with CO2 activation via microwaves radiation. The activated carbon, with a low production cost, could be suitable for applications in gaseous pollutant adsorption, adsorb iodine, methylene blue, and residual chlorine.

A study was conducted on Mukah coal using fixed bed reactor and one step activation with varying resident time and temperatures. CO2 gas was used for the activation process. The one-step continuous process comprised of carbonization and activation processes. The burn off analysis for 80 grams of Mukah coal was done to obtain volatiles removal at various carbonization temperatures. The results obtained showed that at 900oC, the percentages of burn off and the remaining weight were 42.2% and 57.8% respectively. Micrometrics ASAP2010 was used to analyze Mukah coal activated carbon in obtaining the BET surface area, the micropore area, and the average pore diameter. The results obtained indicated that activation at 900oC gave the highest BET surface area with 675m2/g, while the highest micropore area with 427 m2/g was obtained at 800oC. In addition, the average pore diameter range was within 18.5 to 26.4 A.

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Activated carbon is commonly used in water and wastewater treatment, removing organics that cause unpleasant odors, tastes and other detrimental effects. In this study, bioremediation treatment consists of biofilms of two types of microbes, i.e. Bacillus sp and Escherichia sp are grown and immobilized on the Mukah coal activated carbon from Sarawak. Prepared activated carbon was categorized by different physical geometries design such as SGAC I, SGAC II, SGAC III, HCGAC I, HCGAC II and HCGAC III. The target pollutants to be removed from the Ramatex textile wastewater were BOD5, COD, TSS, color, phosphate, nitrate and sulfate.  Escherichia sp with SGAC I was found to give the best results for the bioremediation process and the percentage of BOD5, color,COD,TSS, nitrate, sulfate and phosphate removal were 71.4%, 91.1%, 96.4%, 98.8%, 80.3%, 90.3% and 60.3% respectively. The results indicated that combination between physical and biological treatment was the main factor for the best pollutants removal achievement.

Application of laser in heating technique of both organic gas-phase and solid particles for thermochemical decomposition at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen is presently a challenging area. Laser pyrolysis is a powerful and a versatile tool for the gas-phase synthesis of nanoparticles. Generally, the purpose of pyrolysis is not only for energy production but also for the production of chemical feedstocks. This paper reviews on the pyrolysis activities, generally in Malaysia and the utilization of laser in pyrolysis for renewable energy and materials application. Malaysia is a well-known for palm oil producer country in the world, generating significant wastes yearly from oil palm mills such as empty fruit brunch (EFB), shell, fiber and palm oil mill effluent (POME) has put the government to solve these wastes problem by doing research on the development of renewable energy and materials. This reviews concluded that there are new area of research for the utilization of waste material by using laser technique.