Synthesis and Characterization of Porous Activated Carbon Materials from Palm Frond Waste (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) With Thermal and Chemical Activation
Sahara Hamas Intifadhah (a*), Dadan Hamdani (a), Rahmawati Munir (a), Adrianus Inu Natalisanto (a), Suhadi Muliyono (a)

a) Theoritical and Material Physics Laboratory, Physics Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Mulawarman University, Jl Barong Tongkok, No. 4,Samarinda, East Kalimantan 75123, Indonesia
*saharahamas[at]fmipa.unmul.ac.id

Abstract

Carbon is one of the abundant elements, which is obtained from organic matter. One of them is found in the fronds of oil palm trees. East Kalimantan is one of the provinces that has many oil palm plantations for the palm oil industry. This has an impact on the environment, such as the accumulation of waste from the palm oil industry, especially palm frond waste (Elaeis guineensis jacq.). Based on that, this research has innovated to synthesize activated carbon material from palm frond waste to overcome these environmental problems. This research has analyzed the nature of the material structure, pore size, surface area and pore volume of activated carbon. The method is used the process of thermal and chemical activation to convert pure carbon material into activated carbon with variations of solutions, phosphoric acid (H3PO4) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) and BET (Brunauer-Emmet-Teller) characterization were reported. The results obtained that the amorphous structure of activated carbon has been formed and there was an increase in BET surface area due to the activation process. The surface area obtained for the Pure Carbon (K-1) is 15.149 m2/g, Activated Carbon-NaOH (K-2) is 2.082 m2/g, Activated Carbon-H3PO4 (K-3) is 307.692 m2/g. This shows that the best sample with the highest surface area is sample K-3 which uses H3PO4 activator solution.

Keywords: Palm Frond Waste, Activated Carbon, Surface Area, Pore Size

Topic: Physics