Synthesis and Characterization of Biochar Activated Carbon for Oil Spills Removal

Activated carbon (AC) is an effective material for its various environmental and industrial applications. The characteristics and performance of AC is a result of interaction between source and method of preparation. In the current work, AC has been prepared from date seed wastes using microwave heating under nitrogen using basic (i.e., KOH) / acidic (i.e., H2SO4) chemical activating agents. The AC was characterised using XRD, SEM-EDX, TEM and TGA/DSC. XRD patterns of the AC in both the cases exhibited 3 peaks corresponding to the crystalline graphite form of carbon. SEM images of the freshly prepared carbons showed that the samples contained particles of various sizes including both nanoparticles as well as mm-range particles. DSC analysis showed that the samples exhibited endothermic reaction in low temperature ranges until 300 ◦C and exothermic reaction above this temperature. SEM analysis of the AC, separated into three different size ranges, showed significant etching of the surface of the carbon to yield porous structures. The AC produced using H2SO4 showed better adsorption capacity (9.2 g/g) when compared to that produced using KOH (7.7 g/g). We conclude that the AC prepared from dates seeds can find potential application in water purification and oil spill clean-up.