Date : 26 August 2009
Time : 1-2pm
Venue : 3rd Floor, Main Meeting Room

Presenter :   Dr. Ivy Tan Ai Wei, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering

Title : Preparation, Characterization and Evaluation of Mesoporous Activated Carbons Derived from Agricultural By-Products for Adsorption of Methylene Blue and 2,4,6-Trichlorophenol

Abstract :

 Industrialization has resulted in increased water usage and the use of chemicals of increasing complexity. The rapid growth of textile industry has caused increasing concern about the hazardous effects of dyes and phenolic compounds which are widely found in their effluents. Activated carbon adsorption has been proved to be superior as compared to other techniques for wastewater treatment due to its simplicity of design, high efficiency and ease of operation. However, the prolific use of commercial activated carbons is restricted by the high costs due to the use of non-renewable and expensive starting materials. This has prompted a growing research interest in the production of activated carbons from renewable and low cost precursors. As agricultural industry in Malaysia produces large amount of by-products each year, the conversion of the abundant agricultural by-products into activated carbons will turn negative-value wastes into useful, value-added products, hence solving the waste disposal problem and second, the costs of activated carbon production will be reduced. Moreover, the use of agricultural by-products represents a potential source of adsorbents which will contribute to solving the water pollution problem. Besides, it is still a challenge to produce activated carbons with very specific characteristics which are suitable for certain applications. Combination of both physical and chemical activations has become priority as this method can produce activated carbons with relatively high surface areas and porosities, especially the pore volumes contributed by mesopores, which are important characteristics of activated carbons applied for liquid phase adsorption. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the feasibility of preparing mesoporous activated carbons from agricultural by-products abundantly available in Malaysia and evaluate the adsorption performance of the activated carbons on methylene blue and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol.