Phosphoric acid effect on prepared activated carbon from Saudi Arabia's date frond waste

Abstract

High surface area activated carbon has always fascinated researchers for its application as adsorbent, for water purification, medical and industrial. Date is the major export of Saudi Arabia, while tons of date foliar and fronds are troublesome and yet to be disposed. Transforming this waste into usable activated carbon can be a good idea for recycling, sustainable and green chemistry. In this study, date tree frond is selected to prepare activated carbon, while the effect of phosphoric acid in chemical activation is studied. Using thermogravimetry analysis, it was found that 400oC was the best temperature to convert date frond to carbon. This is supported by FTIR spectroscopy. Various concentration of phosphoric acid is used to optimize the product high surface area carbon obtained and it was found the best is at 60% phosphoric acid with the highest surface area of 1139 m2g-1. This result is also supported by FTIR spectroscopy, which indicates the similarities between commercial carbon and the carbon prepared. FESEM pictographs show chemical activation using phosphoric acid can easily open up pores and cavity of the prepared activated carbon the get the high surface area. It is thus suggested that for mass production of high surface area carbon, date palm frond is used as the source of raw material, due to its abundance and availability comes from the pruning process on the date palm tree, while chemically activated to get the high surface area.