Comparing Characteristics of Charcoal and Activated Carbon from Oil Palm Fronds

Abstract This study aimed to make use of oil palm fronds that contained cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in manufacturing of charcoal through pyrolysis and activated carbon through pyrolisis and impregnation process. To do so, oil palm fronds were pyrolyzed at 150 °C, 200 °C, and 250 °C for 90 minutes. Afterwards, the pyrolyzed fronds or charcoal were smoothed with a ball mill, sieved to 140 meshes, and impregnated using a Sodium Carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ) for 24 hours at a concentration of 0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5 % (w/v). The effect of impregnation process has been investigated. Activated carbon with the highest iodine value of 565.19 mg/g was obtained at 5.0 % (w/v) of sodium carbonate at temperature of 250 °C and the charcoal was 493,5 mg/g. The activated carbon has 6.55% of water content, 13.11% of ash content, 13.46% of volatile matter, 67.67% of fixed carbon. The charcoal has 4.21% of water content, 17.91% of ash content, 14.42% of volatile matter, 66.33% of fixed carbon. FTIR Analysis indicated that charcoal and activated carbon tends to be more polar and contained specific bonds of activated carbon. Moreover, SEM analysis also indicated that activated carbon contained coarse and distributed porous.