Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 30 (3) September 2018, p. 495-502

CARBONISATION-ACTIVATION OF OIL PALM KERNEL SHELL TO PRODUCE ACTIVATED CARBON AND METHYLENE BLUE ADSORPTION KINETICS

NAHRUL HAYAWIN ZAINAL*; ASTIMAR ABDUL AZIZ*; MOHAMAD FAIZAL IBRAHIM**; JUFERI IDRISǂ; MOHD ALI HASSAN**; EZYANA KAMAL BAHRIN**; NOR FAIZAH JALANI*; NUR SULIHATIMARSYILA ABDUL WAFTI* and SURAINI ABD-AZIZ**

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2018.0039
Published Online: 15 August 2018
ABSTRACT

The carbonisation-activation system was developed to produce activated carbon from oil palm kernel shell (OPKS). The OPKS was carbonised at 500°C for 3 hr in an electric vertical reactor followed by steaming at 700°C for another 3 hr in the same reactor. The process showed significant results with a high activated carbon yield of 32%, high fixed carbon content of 88.6% with Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 305.67 m2 g-1. The OPKS-activated carbon was further tested to remove methylene blue. It could adsorb up to 99.7% of methylene blue using only 0.6 g litre-1 dosage of OPKS-activated carbon, for 24 hr of treatment time. The results have been correlated in the Freundlich isotherm which was well fitted to the experimental data over the methylene blue experimental concentration range with correlation coefficients of R2=0.992.

KEYWORDS:


* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

** Department of Bioprocess Technology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: suraini@upm.edu.my

ǂ Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.