ACTIVATION OF DATE PALM SEED BY PHOSPHORIC ACID FOR ACTIVATED CARBON: A PROCESS OPTIMIZATION USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY

摘要

Introduction Activated carbon (AC) in its broadest sense is a term that includes a wide range of amorphous carbonaceous materials that exhibit a high degree of porosity and an extended intra-particulate surface area. They are prepared using thermal decomposition of a variety of carbonaceous substances, usually from charcoal due to its low cost and availability. It has large number of applications in liquid and gas phase adsorption processes, for removal of impurities, in drinking/waste water systems for reduction of organic pollutants and as a catalyst support in variety of chemical synthesis. The chemical activation slows down the formation of tar during thermal degradation of lignocellulosic material [1] in presence of dehydrating agent. Date seeds are among such wastes and very few authors have reported utilization of date seeds as a precursor for the preparation of AC [2-4]. Dates are abundantly available in UAE and their annual production capacity was reported to be 765000 MT in 2003, which constitutes 11% of the global production [5]. Date seeds have compact cellular structure and have comparatively low porosity.