Surface properties of activated carbon prepared from wastes

In this study, activated carbons were produced from animal wastes (cow dung) by chemical activation. The effects of the activating agent and the impregnation ratio were investigated at constant temperature of 700 degrees C. Chemical activations were carried out by mixing the solution of ZnCl2 or KOH and animal wastes with a chemical agent/waste, ratio (wt/wt) varying from 0.5 to 2.5. The pore properties including the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller(BET) surface area, pore volume, pore size distribution and average pore diameter of the activated carbons were determined by physical adsorption of N-2 at -196 degrees C. The highest BET surface areas and total pore volumes were achieved as 1367 m(2)/g and 0.788 cm(3)/g for ZnCl2-activated carbon and as 1916 m(2)/g and 1.13 cm(3)/g for KOH-activated carbon, respectively. The microstructure of the activated carbons was examined by SEM. The surface functional groups were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR). This study has demonstrated that high surface area activated carbons can be prepared from the chemical activation of animal wastes with KOH and ZnCl2 as activating agents. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.