Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences: Research Areas

Abstract:
Activated carbons were produced from raffia palm seed under varying temperatures, times and preparation procedures in order to evaluate their suitability for the removal of colour from wastewater and to determine the best preparation sequence and the optimum temperature and time of carbonization. Their efficiency on the adsorption of colour from wastewater was investigated through single stage batch adsorption studies. 200 g of raffia palm seed each was carbonized under varying temperatures of 200 oC, 300 oC, 400 oC, 500 oC, and 600oC, and the carbonized samples were used for the removal of colour from wastewater. Similarly, the optimum carbonization time was determined by varying the carbonization times for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 50 minutes, and 60 minutes respectively at the optimum carbonization temperature. The effect of preparation sequence was evaluated by preparing the samples under different preparation procedures i.e raw seeds (powdered form), carbonization without activation, activation with ZnCl2 before carbonization and carbonization before activation with ZnCl2. The results revealed that 3000C was the optimum carbonization temperature removing the highest amount of colour of 87% at an optimum carbonization time of 40 minutes. The adsorbing efficiencies of the carbons prepared using the raw seeds, carbonization without activation, activation with ZnCl2 before carbonization and carbonization before activation with ZnCl2 with an initial colour concentration of 370 Pt- Co units were obtained as 5.68 %, 85.95 %, 100 % and 98.40 % respectively. It was concluded that the best procedure for preparation of the carbon is activation before carbonization and that raffia palm seed activated carbon can be effectively used for the removal of colour from wastewater.

Keywords: activated carbon, raffia palm seed, carbonization, time, temperature, activation

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