Preparation Process and Characterization of Activated Carbon from Mango Kernels

Abstract

This paper studied the preparation of activated carbon from Kaite mango kernels in Panzhihua and discussed two preparation processes - one-step and two-step methods and the impact of activator type and concentration and activation temperature on the adsorption performance of activated carbon prepared. The results showed that activated carbon prepared from mango kernels by one-step method with 1mol/L ZnCl2 as the activator and activation temperature of 600°C had the best adsorption performance, and the iodine adsorption value reached 610.08mg/g. FT-IR and SEM analysis showed that active functional groups of activated carbon prepared from mango kernels were mainly concentrated around 3676cm-1, 2983cm-1, 1400cm-1 and 1060cm-1, corresponding to O-H, C-H, C-N, C-O and C-C respectively. SEM results showed that activated carbon prepared from mango kernels by one-step method with ZnCl2 as the activator had the richest pore structure, which was uniform and smooth.