Production of activated carbon by using pyrolysis process in an ammonia atmosphere

Abstract

Activated carbon is materials that have wide applications, including supercapacitor materials, absorbent in chemical industry, and absorbent material in the chemical industry. This study has carried out for the manufacturing of activated carbon from inexpensive materials through efficient processes. Carbon material was made from coconut fibers through pyrolysis process at temperature of 650, 700, 750 and 800°C. Aim of this study was to obtain carbon material that has a large surface area. Pyrolysis process is carried out in an inert atmosphere (N 2 gas) at a temperature of 450°C for 30 minutes, followed by pyrolysis process in an ammonia atmosphere at 800°C for 2 hours. The pyrolysis results showed that the etching process in ammonia is occurred; as it obtained some greater surface area when compared with the pyrolisis process in an atmosphere by inert gas only. The resulted activated carbon also showed to have good properties in surface area and total pore volume.