Effect of process parameters for production of microporous magnetic biochar derived from agriculture waste biomass

Abstract

Durian, which is also known as the king of fruits, is one of the widely consumed fruits in South east Asia, especially in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore. The high demand for durian in Malaysia has led to the accumulation of waste durian rind without proper disposable management in place. Therefore, a novel magnetic biochar was synthesized utilizing the durian rind in the presence of iron oxide, by employing the pyrolysis process in an electrical muffle furnace in a vacuum condition. The effect of pyrolysis temperature, pyrolysis time and sonication frequency was studied to determine the optimum condition for the production of magnetic biochar. The analysis shows that a pyrolysis temperature of 800 °C, pyrolysis time of 25 min and sonication frequency 70 are required for the production of magnetic biochar with a high yield and surface area. These newly produced magnetic biochar have a high surface area of 820 m2/g which provide 98% removal of congo red from the aqueous solution with an adsorption capacity of 87.32 mg/g.