Comparative study on microstructure and surface properties of keratin- and lignocellulosic-based activated carbons

Abstract

The paper probed the preparation of activated carbon by potassium silicate (K 2 SiO 3 ) activation from keratin waste (cowhair waste, CW) and lignocellulosic materials (Cyperus alternifolius, CA) and the comparisons of physicochemical properties of the resulting carbons. These impregnation conditions were as follows: one impregnated at room temperature for 12 h then dipped at high temperature for 30 min; the other was only impregnated at room temperature for 12 h, producing four activated carbons CWAC-1, CWAC-2, CAAC-1, and CAAC-2. The influence of activation time, K 2 SiO 3 /precursor weight ratio, and the pre-process on properties of activated carbons was discussed. The CWAC-1 produced at 700 °C with the K 2 SiO 3 /precursor weight ratio of 2:1 possessed the BrunauerEmmet-Teller (BET) surface area of 1965 m 2 /g and total pore volume of 1.345 cm 3 /g, while CAAC-1 prepared at the same conditions attained the BET surface area of 1710 m 2 /g and total pore volume of 0.949 cm 3 /g. The surface area and total pore volume of CAAC increased with the impregnation ratio. Moreover, CWAC-1, CWAC-2, CAAC-1, and CAAC-2 exhibited high portion of micropores, illustrating the role of K 2 SiO 3 . The analysis with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer indicates that CWAC has more functional groups than CAAC, as well as CWAC-1 and CWAC-2 which possess similar functional groups.

The Influence of Pretreatment and Post Treatment with Alkaline Activators on the Adsorption Ability of Biochar from Palm Oil Empty Fruit

“…From the absorption capacity of methylene blue, the resulting activated biochar meets the Indonesian national standard for activated charcoal, which is 60 mg/g. The addition of activator in the activation process has the potential to penetrate closed pores, so that the pores will open and the mesoporous-sized pores will widen (Guo et al 2014;Kong et al 2015).…”