Preparation and Characterization of Activated Carbon from Microwave and Conventional Heated Almond Shells Using Phosphoric Acid Activation

Abstract

Activated carbon production from almond shells using phosphoric acid activation agent was achieved by applying both conventional heating and microwave heating in succession. The morphology and surface properties of activated carbon were studied using thermogravimetric and differential gravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis. A surface area of 1128 m²/g was achieved by optimizing the microwave power (500 W), microwave application time (15 minutes), conventional heating time (45 minutes), conventional heating temperature (500 °C), and the phosphoric acid:sample ratio (0.7:1). An adsorption capacity of methylene blue of 148 mg/g and an iodine value of 791 mg/g was obtained for the prepared activated carbon.

Keywords:

• Almond shell
• Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy
• microwave and conventional heating
• scanning electron microscopy
• thermogravimetric analysis

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful to the Siirt University Research Foundation for its financial support for the 2017-SİÜFEB-93 project.