Activated Carbon Pruduction and Characterization Studies from Cane (<i>Phragmites australis</i>) by Microvave Assisted Pyrolsis Process

Abstract

Activated carbon is an adsorption material with a large internal surface area and pore volume, which is obtained by the activation of the increasingly high content of carbon containing materials. Active carbon is used in the removal of organic pollutants and taste and odor disorders from household and industrial wastewater, as well as many areas such as various gas phase applications as well as the purification of chemical products. The cane grows spontaneously in lakes all of them in western Anatolia. Due to its easy accessibility and abundance, the cane is very economical to use it in production of activated carbon. The aim of this work is to obtain activated carbon from the cane, which as a cheap and an abundant raw material, by means of the quick microwave oven. Activated carbon production was carried out in two stages. In the first step sawdust of cane was activated with o-phosphoric acid solutions (30%, 40% and 50%). The second stage is carbonization in a microwave oven. Carbonization processes of 20 and 30 minutes were carried out at 300 and 450 watt microwave power levels. Methylene blue aqueous solutions were used for performance tests of the obtained activated carbon samples. BET surface area measurement, SEM photographs and FT-IR analyzes were used to determine the physical properties. It was concluded that 20 minutes of carbonization at the 300 watt microwave power level was sufficient for the studies. BET surface area of the best powder active carbon sample which is obtained in optimum conditions has been specified as 1096,9 m²/g.