Abstract
Saudi Arabian desert tree Acacia (Vachellia Seyal) used to produce Activated Carbon (AC) by phosphoric acid mediated chemical activation at low temperature. Characterization of AC done based on proximate and detailed analysis including Moisture content, Total Ash content, pH value, Iodine number, Methylene blue number, pore volume and BET surface area. Results revealed that properties of produced activated carbon (PAC) are comparable to commercial activated carbon (CAC). Low ash content and hardness making it suitable for water and wastewater treatment. Cost of production found to be less than $0.5/kg. Both AC used to treat wastewater containing Methylene Blue (MB) dye. Initially the removal efficiency of CAC is higher than the PAC however, both AC reached to similar removal (95.3% for PAC and 98.2% for CAC) within one hour. Growing demand of AC in the country can be meet by producing low cost locally available waste materials Acacia seyal tree branches.
Highlights
Due to high degree of porosity, typically one gram of activated carbon (AC) has a surface area in access of 500 m2 (Yang et al, 2010)
Other elements such as nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen are similar to the composition of Acacia nilotica and pine bark reported in literature for production of AC
Desert tree Acacia seyal is abundant in Saudi Arabia and tree branches are common waste material to dispose in environment friendly manner
Summary
Due to high degree of porosity, typically one gram of activated carbon (AC) has a surface area in access of 500 m2 (Yang et al, 2010). Some researchers reported the BET surface area from 1494 to 1581 m2/g which makes it a favorite candidate as an adsorbent (Ahmed et al, 2015). Some researchers achieved surface area up to 2939 m2/g by additional activation with potassium hydroxide (Buczek, 2016). The high cost of AC has stimulating effect in assessing the feasibility of using cheaper raw materials. In order to cope with the huge requirement, AC should be prepared using locally available raw materials and cost effective production technique. Desert plant Acacia considered as a waste material and available abundantly in many regions of country (Aref et al, 2003). The conversion of Acacia seyal tree branches to ACs offers significant potentials for reducing the cost and the environmental damage resulting from decay and disposal of these residues (Shivayogimath et al, 2014)
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