OPTIMIZATION OF CONDITIONS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ACTIVATED CARBON FROM MANGO KERNEL SHELL USING BARIUM CHLORIDE AS THE ACTIVATING AGENT

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to remove mango shell waste which is one of the seasonal environmental nuisance items and recycle it as a precursor for the production of activated carbon. Discarded mango shells were sourced from local vicinity, and they were washed thoroughly to remove dirt, sundried and reduced to smaller sizes. Two-Level Factorial Design under Factorial Methodology of Design Expect (10.0.1) software was employed to optimize interaction of impregnation ratio (0.033 - 0.167 of 0.1M BaCl2), carbonization temperature (200 - 500 °C), temperature time (20 - 60 min), frequency (300 - 600 Hz) and frequency time (30 - 60 min) for the production of maximum yield of activated carbon.  The least yield (11.25 %) was obtained at Run 13 [0.033, 500 °C, 60 min, 300 Hz, and 60 min] and highest yield (31.25%) at Run 6 [0.033, 300 °C, 20 min, 300 Hz, and 60 min]. Correlation coefficient (R2) value of 1 was obtained and it is in reasonable agreement with Predicted R2 (0.9982), which indicated that the model equation developed was significant. The numerical optimum values obtained for impregnation ratio, temperature, temperature time, frequency and frequency time) were 0.073, 389.002 ◦C, 44.07 min, 444.01 Hz and 44.02 min for a targeted yield of 20% with a desirability of 1.00. The result of this study suggests that the optimization technique was suitable for the production of quality yield of activated carbon from mango shell.

Keywords: Activated carbon, carbon yield, Factorial Design, Mango shell, Optimization