The Production of Activated Carbon from Indonesian Mangrove Charcoal

Abstract

Activated Carbon is an important material for purification, colour removal, adsorbent, and catalyst in the chemical industry. One of the iodine industries in East Java use active carbon as adsorbent that captures iodine from the solution. Indonesia still imports activated carbon despite the numerous raw materials of activated carbon in Indonesia. This research aims to determine the effect of the concentration of phosphoric acid (activating agent) and activation temperature on the production of activated carbon from mangrove charcoal. The activating agent used was phosphoric acid with 0.4-1.0 M and 2 hour immersion. The activation temperature was 650-725°C. The activated carbon of the research results was tested for its proximate level, iodine number, and specific surface area. The results showed that water content ranged from 0.11-0.38%, iodine number was around 769.075-1,019.087 mg/g. The highest iodine number was 1,019.87 mg/g and the surface area of 354.977 m2/g that occurred at 725 °C with activator concentration of 1 M. Proximate analysis, iodine number, and specific surface area of activated carbon from mangrove charcoal have met Indonesian National Standardization (SNI 06-3730-1995).