Determining the Quality of Activated Carbon Using L16 Taguchi Method ThroughWaste Tyre Recycling

Abstract

In this present study, waste tyre has been chosen as the precursor of activated carbon since it is a nonbiodegradable carbonaceouswaste causing environmental pollution. This paper deals with the preparation of AC and obtaining the most suitable preparationmethod. Taguchi method with L16 experimentswas conducted at different levels of the three parameters. Activation temperature was 600–900 °C, residence time was 2–5 h, and four different chemical agents (KOH, H3PO4, Na2CO3, and H2SO4) were chosen. The maximum methylene blue (MB) dye removal was found out to be 91.78%. From the delta ranking system, we can see that the chemical agent has the maximum influence on the quality of AC, followed by temperature and time. The least influencing parameter is the residence time for the preparation of AC. The maximum removal percentage was found out to be 94.25% and the optimum parameter values were 800 °C (Temperature), 3 h (time), and KOH (Chemical Agent). The regression equation obtained has an R2 value of 82.54%.