Physicochemical properties of char derived from palm fatty acid distillate

Abstract

The present work was aimed to evaluate the physiochemical properties of chars derived from palm fatty acid distillate. The palm fatty acid distillate was heat-treated at 500 °C and 600 °C in a muffle furnace for 0.5 h, and the resultant products were characterized for elemental composition, surface functional groups, thermogravimetric profile and methylene blue adsorption. Results show that the char samples are rich in carbon content with unique surface functional groups that could be useful in the liquid-phase adsorption. The solid chars depict a thermally stable profile with the increase of temperature during the heat treatment. The char demonstrated the maximum removal of methylene blue of 7.6 mg/g and obeyed the monolayer-trend adsorption of Langmuir isotherm. The findings concluded that the palm fatty acid distillate-based char could be an adsorbent candidate for the removal of methylene blue.