Granular-activated carbon from Mukah coal using carbon dioxide activation

Abstract

A study was conducted on Mukah coal using fixed bed reactor and one step activation with varying resident time and temperatures. CO2 gas was used for the activation process. The one-step continuous process comprised of carbonization and activation processes. The burn off analysis for 80 grams of Mukah coal was done to obtain volatiles removal at various carbonization temperatures. The results obtained showed that at 900oC, the percentages of burn off and the remaining weight were 42.2% and 57.8% respectively. Micrometrics ASAP2010 was used to analyze Mukah coal activated carbon in obtaining the BET surface area, the micropore area, and the average pore diameter. The results obtained indicated that activation at 900oC gave the highest BET surface area with 675m2/g, while the highest micropore area with 427 m2/g was obtained at 800oC. In addition, the average pore diameter range was within 18.5 to 26.4 A.