Optimum conditions of activated carbon production from Mimosa pigra L. using sodium chloride and zing chloride activation

Abstract

The study investigated the production of activated carbon from Mimosa pigra L. using NaCl and ZnCl2 as
activating agent under different conditions by utilizing Box-Behnken Design. Three factors including activating
agent to activated carbon ratio (W; 1:0-1:4 w/w), activation temperatures (Temp; 500-800 ๐C) and
activation times (Time; 60-120 minutes) were investigated to find the optimum conditions. The study revealed
the statistically significant influence (p<0.05) of the three factors on iodine number of activated carbon. It was
found that the optimum condition for using NaCl as an activating agent was the ratio of 1:1.94 under the
activation temperature of 772.73 ๐C and the activation time of 95.15 minutes. Under this condition, the Iodine
number of activated carbon form NaCl as activating agent was optimum at 631.10 mg/g. On the other hand,
the optimum condition for using ZnCl2 as activating agent weight ratio of 1:3.11, an activation temperature of
800 oC and activation time of 60 minutes. The activated carbon produced under optimum conditions was an
iodine number of 966.30 mg/g. The study revealed that using ZnCl2 as activating agent resulted in more
Iodine number than using NaCl. Moreover, activated carbons obtained from Mimosa pigra L. had good
quality for producing activated carbon because iodine numbers are higher than 600 mg/g, the level set by
the Thai Industrial Standards Institute, TISI.900-2004.