PRODUCTION OF ACTIVATED CARBON FROM INDUSTRIAL BAMBOO WASTES

MAHANIM SMA, WAN ASMA I, RAFIDAH J, PUAD E & SHAHARUDDIN H. 2011. Production of activated carbon from industrial bamboo wastes. Activated carbon was produced from bamboo residues using carbonisation and steam activation in a high temperature reactor. Tests were carried out to study the effects of two processing parameters, namely, activation time (30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 min) and activation temperature (650, 700, 750 and 800 degrees C) on the properties of activated carbon produced. Activated carbon properties were analysed based on iodine number and Brunauer-Emmett Teller (BET) surface area. Increasing activation temperature gave higher iodine values. Optimum conditions for producing activated carbon from bamboo wastes were at activation temperature 800 degrees C and activation time 120 min that resulted in bamboo activated carbon with the highest iodine number of 823 mg g(-1) and BET surface area of 719 m(2) g(-1). With these parameters, waste bamboo has the potential to be a promising precursor for the production of activated carbon. The characteristics of the activated carbon in this study was comparable with commercial ones.