The characterization of activated carbons prepared from agriculture side product with chemical activation and the investigation of cation adsorption from aqueous solution

ABSTRACTMSc. ThesisTHE CHARACTERIZATION OF ACTIVATED CARBONS PREPARED FROMAGRICULTURE SIDE PRODUCT WITH CHEMICAL ACTIVATION AND THEINVESTIGATION OF CATION ADSORPTION FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONEda Köseoğluİnönü UniversityGraduate School of Natural and Applied SciencesDepartment of Chemical Engineering93 + ix pages2005Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Canan Akmil BAŞARIn this study, activated carbons were prepared from the agricultural waste orange peelby a chemical activation with K2CO3, ZnCl2, H3BO3 and SrCl2. The impregnant/startingmaterial ratio was selected as 1:1 and the impregnated samples were hold at the activationtemperatures for 1 hour.The surface area, pore properties and the other characterization of the samples weredetermined by using Micromeritics TriStar 3000 surface analyzer and Fourier TransformInfrared Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, Differential Thermal and ThermogravimetricAnalysis techniques.Methylene blue, melanoidine and iodine number values of the activated carbons withhigh surface area were determined.High surface area was obtained at 950 ºC with K2CO3, 500ºC with ZnCl2, 600 ºC withH3BO3 and SrCl2. Prepared activated carbons had generally graphitic structure and aromatizedwith increasing activation temperature. The functionality of activated carbons was varieddepending on impregnant and activation temperature.High yield values were observed at activation with ZnCl2, H3BO3 and SrCl2. Activatedcarbons prepared with ZnCl2 had very low ash content.Zn+2 ions adsorption from aqueous solution was carried out with activated carboncoded as OSKC95 having the highest surface area among the all activated carbons. The effectof active carbon dosage, adsorption contact time, pH and initial Zn+2 ions concentration on theadsorption efficiency of Zn+2 ions from the aqueous solution were investigated.Zn+2 ions adsorption studied by using OSKC95 was shown that OSKC95 could beused effectively for removal of Zn+2 ions from aqueous solution at pre-determined conditions.It may be said that orange peel would be suitable starting material for preparingactivated carbons by using suitable impregnant.KEY WORDS: Orange peel, chemical activation, activated carbon, surface area, XRD,DTA, FT-IR, TGA.