Synthesis and Characterization of Activated Carbon from Sago Waste (Metroxylon sagu) with ZnCl2 Activation and HNO3 Modification

Previous researches have shown that activated carbon could be made from various raw materials which contain lignocellulose. The aims of this research were to synthesis and characterize the activated carbon obtained from lignocellulose contained in sago waste. The synthesis was conducted through multiple stages of dehydration, carbonization, silica extraction with NaOH, activation by ZnCl2 10%, and surface modification using HNO3 65%, successively. From X-ray fluorescence, it was confirmed that treatment with NaOH removed practically all silica content from the sample with only 1 wt% left. The X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the samples have amorphous structures before the modification and started to form exfoliated graphite crystals, as shown by the peaks at 2θ 30.27° and 35.10°. The significant result was obtained from the series of processes of carbonization, extraction, activation, and modification using 1.5 mL of HNO3 (CEA 1.5), which produced nanoporous particles with regular homogeneous shapes in the range of 200 nm in size as shown by scanning electron images. Finally, the infrared spectra from activated and modified samples confirmed that the oxygen-containing groups had increased.