The effect of carbonisation temperatures on nanoporous characteristics of activated carbon fibre (ACF) derived from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibre

Activated carbon fibre (ACF) is a nanoporous material which is useful for various important applications such as safe biogas and natural gas storage as well as heavy/precious metals removal and recovery. It is commonly produced from synthetic fibres such as rayon, polyacrylnitrile and pitch mainly derived from petroleum products, which are less environmental friendly. Besides, cost of ACF production is high due to the high burnt off percentage of such expensive raw materials. As an alternative, natural fibre of oil palm empty fruit bunch was used as a raw material for ACF preparation. Thermogravimetric analysis was carried out with two different gases, i.e. nitrogen gas and oxygen gas in order to observe pyrolysis and combustion behaviours in different gases. Carbonisation temperatures were then identified from the peaks of derivative thermogravimetry results. Different carbonisation temperatures (85-200 A degrees C) were chosen to carbonise the EFB fibre to observe the effect of carbonisation temperatures on the nanoporous characteristics, i.e. surface area, pore size distribution and pore volume of the ACF produced. Good nanoporous characteristics such as surface area up to 2,740 m(2)/g of the ACF prepared were observed, suggesting EFB fibre as an excellent candidate to replace synthetic fibre for ACF production. The discussion of relationship between thermal characteristics and nanopores in ACF derived from EFB were also included in this study.