The Properties of Activated Carbon Fiber Derived from Direct Activation from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Fiber

Abstract

Oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) is an abundant agricultural waste available in Malaysia. More than two million tonnes (dry weight) of extracted oil palm fiber are estimated to be generated annually. Usually the EFB is used as boiler fuel to produce steam in the palm oil mills. EFB fiber can be used to prepare activated carbon fiber (ACF) by carbonization and activation. Conversion of EFB fiber to ACF will reduce the amount of agricultural waste produced annually and it represents a potential source of adsorbents used for adsorption. The ACF has many advantages as compared to the conventional activated carbon found in powder or granular form. These advantages include large surface area, high adsorption capacity and high rates of adsorption from the gas or liquid phase. In this study, ACF produced from EFB fiber by single step direct activation process (ACF-D) was compared against ACF produced by conventional 2-step carbonization and activation (ACF-ND). The different properties between ACFs produced were investigated. The raw EFB and ACFs were characterized by a SEM and EDS, FTIR and XRD. The results show that EFB has carbon content of 63.33 weight percentage (wt %) with oxygen content of 36.67 wt %. ACF-D was found to have a high carbon content of 93.63 wt%, with low oxygen content (5.19 wt %). ACF-ND gave a higher carbon content up to 95.68 wt% and accompanied by a lower oxygen content (3.85 wt %).