ONE-STEP SYNTHESIS OF ACTIVATED CARBON FROM SUGARCANE BAGASSE

Abstract

Activated carbon (AC) derivated from biomass (BM) is a material that can reduce BM emission, be used for environmental treatment and increase increase the profit of agriculture production. The conversion of biomass (BM) into AC usually requires a two-step procedure including pyrolysis of BM into biochar (BC) and activation of BC into AC. While the earlier step is relatively simple and common for most BM the latter is complicate and high-temperature conditions are needed to activate solid-state reaction between BC and activating agents. In this paper, we demonstrate a one-step preparation of AC from sugarcane bagasse (SB) by pyrolysis of SB in the presence of NaOH catalyst. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis revealed that AC has a surface area of 146.6 m²/g which is much higher than the surface area of BC and is about 40% as compared to the surface area of steam-activated AC at 500^oC. The results indicate that the one-step method is a cost-effective procedure for the preparation of AC from BM.