Preparation of Activated Carbon from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) by Steam Activation Using Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

This paper aims to find the optimum conditions for preparation of activated carbon from empty fruit bunch (EFB) using physical steam activation by applying response surface methodology (RSM) with maximizing the BET surface area. The main process variables for this study were activation temperature and activation time and quadratic model was developed for a BET surface area which was selected as the investigated response. According to the RSM tool, the optimum conditions that were obtained from this study are at an activation temperature of 764.5oC and activation time of 77 min which give the maximum of BET surface area; 717.6 m2/g. Based on this optimum condition, the experimental value of BET surface area is 720.0 m2/g and is found to agree adequately with that (717.6 m2/g) predicted from the model.