Palm Shell Waste Research Articles

A Highly Efficient Activated Carbon by Chemical Activation Method for Adsorption of Paraquat (Toxin)

The optimum condition for preparing a highly efficient activated carbon has been investigated in this work. The effects of different activation temperatures on the pore structure and surface morphology of highly efficient activated carbon (AC) derived from waste palm shell by chemical activation method using phosphoric acid as activating agent were studied. For activation, different activation temperatures in the range of 550 °C-650 °C were carried out. Activated carbon with well developed pore size were produced at activation temperature of 600 °C for 2 hours. At this temperature the Brunauer , Emmett and Teller (BET) surface areas are 1287 m2g-1, the total pore volume for adsorption and desorption are 0.742 cm3 g-1. Scanning Electron Microscope also confirmed the porosity of the highly efficient activated carbon. Finally it was tested in vitro to determine its adsorbing capacity for paraquat as a toxin. For optimum adsorption ability of activated carbon for paraquat, 0.9% NaCl solution is the most suitable solvent. The paraquat preferentially adsorbed onto the activated carbon in NaCl solution. The adsorption ability of the activated carbon (the amount adsorbed) for paraquat observed to be 99.9 mg g-1.

Preparation of granular activated carbon from oil palm shell by microwave-induced chemical activation: Optimisation using surface response methodology

In this study, waste palm shell was used to produce activated carbon (AC) using microwave radiation and zinc chloride as a chemical agent. The operating parameters of the preparation process were optimised by a combination of response surface methodology (RSM) and central composite design (CCD). The influence of the four major parameters, namely, microwave power, activation time, chemical impregnation ratio and particle size, on methylene blue (MB) adsorption capacity and AC yield were investigated. Based on the analysis of variance, microwave power and microwave radiation time were identified as the most influential factors for AC yield and MB adsorption capacity, respectively. The optimum preparation conditions are a microwave power of 1200W, an activation time of 15min, a ZnCl2 impregnation ratio of 1.65 (g Zn/g precursor) and a particle size of 2mm. The prepared AC under the optimised condition had a BET surface area (SBET) of 1253.5m2/g with a total pore volume (Vtot) of 0.83cm3/g, which 56% of it was contributed to the micropore volume (Vmic).

Co-pyrolysis of palm shell and polystyrene waste mixtures to synthesis liquid fuel

The mixtures of palm shell and polystyrene waste were pyrolyzed to obtain a high-grade of pyrolytic liquid that potentially could be used as a fuel. Three effective parameters were chosen: temperature, feed ratio, and reaction time. The first phase of the study was a screening test to select the range point of each parameter that resulted in high production of liquid. The selected points were then used as reference data for an optimization study using response surface methodology. The maximum liquid yield of approximately 68.3% was obtained under optimum conditions, which were shown to be a temperature of 600°C, a palm shell/polystyrene ratio of 40:60, and a reaction time of 45min. The characterization results showed that the high heating value of the liquid obtained was 40.34MJ/kg with a water content of 1.9wt% and an oxygen content 4.24wt%. The liquid mainly consisted of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons.

Fuel Gas Generation from Thermochemical Conversion of Crude Glycerol Mixed with Biomass Wastes

Greater usage of biodiesel worldwide results in significant generation of glycerol waste from transesterification process of plant oil. In the work reported here, thermal conversion of biodiesel manufacturing wastes including extracted physic nut and palm shell mixed with glycerol waste was carried out using a tubular reactor at 700-900°C. Studied parameters were reaction temperature, ratio of each wastes, air factor and residence time. Mixed wastes were first pelletized to cylindrical shape of 2mm diameter and 3mm height before feeding into the reaction vessel at the feeding rate of 5g/min. Air and nitrogen were used as reacting and carrier gases, respectively. Product gases contained mainly of CO, CO2, H2, CH4 were continuously measured by dedicated online TCD/NDIR analyzer.Results indicated that as reaction temperature increased, CO2 decreased while yields of CO, CH4 and H2 increased. Greater conversion to CO2, CO, H2 occurred with air factor increased from 0.0 to 0.3. Further increase in air factor resulted in lesser CO and H2 from greater competing combustion reactions. CH4 decreased when air factor changed from 0.0 to 0.6. The maximum gas LHV's are 3.48MJ/m3 and 2.27MJ/m3 for glycerol waste mixed with physic nut waste and palm shell waste, respectively. The maximum of mole ratio of H2 to CO obtained is 0.59 for physic nut and 0.37 for palm shell mixed wastes. These findings showed that products from co-gasification of mixed wastes from biodiesel production may be used for power generation or further upgraded to produce value added fuel product which would significantly improve the economics of this waste-to-energy process.

Waste Palm Shell Converted to High Efficient Activated Carbon by Chemical Activation Method and Its Adsorption Capacity Tested by Water Filtration

The concentrations of phosphoric acid on the characteristics of high efficient activated carbon were investigated. Adsorptions capacities of activated carbon prepared by chemical method were carried out to evaluate the adsorptive of some heavy metals. It was found that treated (palm shell by sulphuric acid, 5%) raw material reduces contain of impurities and increases Brunet Elmer Teller (BET) surface area of the prepared activated carbon. The most advantageous BET surface area was obtained with following conditions; phosphoric acid concentration was 30%, treated raw material and 500°C was activation temperature with holding time of 2hours. Obtained BET surface area is 1058 m2g-1 and the average pore diameter was found 20.64nm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) also confirmed the pore size distribution on the activated carbon. The maximum thermal stability was observed up to 600°C by thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA). Adsorption capacity of the activated carbon was tested passed by artificially polluted water through a water filtering column and it was observed 100% of Cr was adsorbed followed by Pb (99.8%), Cd (99.5%) and Cu (25%).

Optimization and characterization studies on bio-oil production from palm shell by pyrolysis using response surface methodology

Abstract In this work palm shell waste was pyrolyzed to produces bio-oil. The effects of several parameters on the pyrolysis efficiency were tested to identify the optimal bio-oil production conditions. The tested parameters include temperature, N2 flow rate, feed-stock particle size, and reaction time. The experiments were conducted using a fix-bed reactor. The efficient response surface methodology (RSM), with a central composite design (CCD), were used for modeling and optimization the process parameters. The results showed that the second-order polynomial equation explains adequately the non-linear nature of the modeled response. An R2 value of 0.9337 indicates a sufficient adjustment of the model with the experimental data. The optimal conditions found to be at the temperature of 500 °C, N2 flow rate of 2 L/min, particle size of 2 mm and reaction time of 60 min and yield of bio-oil was approximately obtained 46.4 wt %. In addition, Fourier Transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC–MS) were used to characterize the gained bio-oil under the optimum condition.

Structural Transformation of Agricultural Waste/Coke Blends and Their Implications during High Temperature Processes

With a sharp increase in demand and production, palm oil wastes, (i.e. empty fruit bunches, fibre and shells) are generated, out of which a large amount ends up in landfill. In such a context, alternative solutions are needed to reduce the impact of these agricultural wastes on the environment. The present paper investigates the effect of addition of agricultural waste materials on the combustion behavior of its blends with metallurgical coke (MC). Two types of agricultural waste materials, palm shell and coconut shell, were mixed in different proportion with MC, while the gas phase reactions were studied at 1200°C in a drop tube furnace (DTF). In the tested conditions, the blends containing agricultural waste materials indicated higher combustion efficiencies compared to MC alone. Carbon structure analysis were performed through 13CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy showing various groups of carbons present in the agricultural waste samples ranging from aliphatic to aromatic carbons. The morphology of the samples was studied through Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). SEM provided a qualitative description of the pore structure in the raw samples as well as the changes occurring following the gas phase reactions in the DTF. It was found that the particles derived from the wastes became increasingly deformed and lost their cell lumen. Surface area measurements were found to be in good agreement with the SEM images, supporting the higher combustion efficiency of the blends in comparison to coke alone. The present study suggests that agricultural waste materials have the potential to partially replace MC, as an auxiliary fuel in metallurgical processes.

Performance of an activated carbon made from waste palm shell in simultaneous adsorption of SO x and NO x of flue gas at low temperature

This study examined the individual and simultaneous adsorption of SO{in{itx}} (SO{in{it2}}) and NO{in{itx}} (NO-NO{in{it2}}) on activated carbon prepared from waste palm shell. The adsorption process was examined in a fixed bed reactor at low temperatures (100\2-300\dgC). For individual adsorption without any catalytic activation, SO{in{itx}} showed good adsorption whereas NO{in{itx}} was very much poor. In the simultaneous adsorption of SO{in{itx}} and NO{in{itx}}, SO{in{itx}} showed greater adsorption affinity than NO{itx}. For palm shell activated carbon (PSAC) impregnated with metal catalyst (Ni and Ce) the concentration adsorbed profile showed that the amount of SO{in{itx}} adsorbed decreased regularly, while the amount of the adsorbed NO{in{itx}} increased irregularly. The properties of the pure and impregnated PSAC were analyzed by BET, SEM and EDX. These investigations indicated that PSAC impregnated with metal catalyst is the determining factor in the adsorption of SO{in{itx}} and NO{in{itx}} simultaneously.

Optimization of microporous palm shell activated carbon production for flue gas desulphurization: Experimental and statistical studies

Optimizing the production of microporous activated carbon from waste palm shell was done by applying experimental design methodology. The product, palm shell activated carbon was tested for removal of SO 2 gas from flue gas. The activated carbon production was mathematically described as a function of parameters such as flow rate, activation time and activation temperature of carbonization. These parameters were modeled using response surface methodology. The experiments were carried out as a central composite design consisting of 32 experiments. Quadratic models were developed for surface area, total pore volume, and microporosity in term of micropore fraction. The models were used to obtain the optimum process condition for the production of microporous palm shell activated carbon useful for SO 2 removal. The optimized palm shell activated carbon with surface area of 973 m 2/g, total pore volume of 0.78 cc/g and micropore fraction of 70.5% showed an excellent agreement with the amount predicted by the statistical analysis. Palm shell activated carbon with higher surface area and microporosity fraction showed good adsorption affinity for SO 2 removal.

Removal of Pb(II) from industrial wastewater by using various natural materials – a review

Lead’s history in science, medicine and technology has been overshadowed by its notoriety as a poison in homicides. Lead is viewed as being synonymous with toxicity. Dangerous lead concentration in natural, as well as industrial wastewater, is now a worldwide problem and often referred to as a 20th–21st century calamity. Existing overviews of lead removal include technologies that have traditionally been used (oxidation, precipitation/coagulation/membrane separation) with far less attention paid to adsorption. No previous review is available where readers can get an overview of the sorption capacities of both available and developed sorbents used for lead remediation. Most of the valuable available literature on lead remediation by adsorption has been incorporated. Lead sorption by commercially available carbons and other low-cost adsorbents developed from various natural materials are surveyed and critically reviewed and their sorption effi ciency compared. Some commercially available adsorbents are also surveyed. An extensive table summarizes the maximum percentage of Pb(II) uptake, optimum pH, isothermal model fi t and thermodynamic parameters of various adsorbents. Some low cost adsorbents prepared from various natural materials are superior including bagasse fl y ash, bone powder, sea nodule, olive cake, polymerized banana stem, tea waste, carbons developed from agricultural waste (coconut shell carbon and palm shell carbon), biosorbents (modifi ed lignin and microspore), phosphogypsum and some commercial adsorbents, which included activated carbon, carbon aerogel tested for lead removal come out to be superior.

A New Conversion Method for Recovering Valuable Chemicals from Oil Palm Shell Wastes Utilizing Liquid-Phase Oxidation with H2O2 under Mild Conditions

A new oxidative degradation method was developed for separating hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin from an oil palm shell waste, and for converting them into valuable chemicals. The method is basically a two-step process in which the shell pretreated in hot water at 180 °C was oxidized with 30%-H2O2 at 60 °C (first-stage oxidation) under ambient pressure with or without an Fe catalyst. To increase the product yield and selectivity, a second-stage oxidation of the water-soluble components obtained from the first-stage oxidation was also performed in the presence of the Fenton reagent at 25 °C. Through the hot water treatment, hemicellulose in the palm oil shell was successfully recovered as saccharides, leaving lignin and cellulose. Through the first-stage oxidation without the Fe catalyst lignin was converted to water-soluble compounds containing small molecular weight fatty acids such as HCOOH and CH3COOH, and almost pure cellulose was recovered in 22% of yield on carbon basis. After the second-stage o...