Preparation of Activated Carbon from Mangrove Waste by KOH Chemical Activation

In this study, Mangrove (Rhizophora mucronata) fruit waste which was generated from water-based extraction of natural dyes from this fruit was used as raw material in activated carbon preparation. Carbonization of chopped Mangrove fruit waste was conducted in a batch pyrolyzer for slow pyrolysis at temperature range of 300°C to 335°C and atmospheric pressure. The produced carbon was then soaked with potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution for 24 hours before activation process in an electrical furnace at 400°C for an hour. Effect of KOH concentration on physical characteristics of activated carbon was investigated in terms of moisture content, ash content, surface area, pore diameter, iodine number, and surface morphology. It was observed that the surface area and pore diameter increased with increasing the KOH concentration. Soaking the carbon in 2.5 M KOH provided the highest surface area and pore diameter of activated carbon, which were 1,920.6 m²/g and 5.52 μm, respectively. Also, the iodine number of 1,540.13 mg/g was obtained in correspond to the adsorption capacity.