Impact of reaction vessel pressure on the synthesis of sliced activated carbon from date palm tree fronds

Abstract

The effects of the reaction vessel pressure on the BET surface area, pore volume and pore size of the synthesis of sliced activated carbons (SAC) at 850°C starting from 0.10 to 0.40 bars were investigated. Other synthetic variables like dwell time, CO2 flow rate and heating ramp rate were kept constant during the whole study. Methodology involves a single step procedure using the mixture of gases (N2 and CO2). During activation flow rate of both gases are kept at 150 and 50ml/min respectively. The BET surface areas of the SAC prepared at 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35 and 0.40 bar after 30 minutes activation time are 666, 745, 895, 1094, 835, 658 and 625 m2/g, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for surface morphology, Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for nano particle size were also carried out that also confirms the same trend.

Keywords

• Activated carbon
• Physical activation
• Gaseous mixture
• Saudi Date Fronds
• Agro waste