Nitrogen Tailored Activated Carbon via Microwave Synthesis Method for High Removal of Hydrogen Sulfide

Abstract

In this work, commercialized palm shell activated carbon was modified into nitrogen-functionalized carbon via urea impregnation method, followed by heat treatment via microwave irradiation at 950 °C. The efficiency of nitrogen-functionalized palm shell activated carbon (N-PSAC) towards hydrogen sulfide (H2S) removal was compared to raw palm shell activated carbon and sodium hydroxide impregnated palm shell activated carbon (NaOH-PSAC). These adsorbents were tested for H2S adsorption using simulated POME biogas composition. The composition of simulated POME biogas contains 3000 ppm of H2S, 40% of CO2 and 59.7% of CH4. Experimental data showed that N-PSAC adsorbent performed better, which obtained comparable adsorption capacity (264.3 mg/g) with NaOH-PSAC (240.87 mg/g). The chemical and physical properties of the adsorbents were tested using elemental analysis, nitrogen adsorption desorption analysis, FTIR, and SEM analysis. Higher sorption capacity of H2S using N-PSAC showed that the introduction of basic nitrogen functionality via thermal treatment on palm shell activated carbon, significantly improved the performance of palm shell activated carbon as H2S adsorbent.