Utilization of biodiesel waste as a renewable resource for activated carbon: Application to environmental problems

Stepping into the new globalized and paradigm shifted era, a huge revolution has been undergone by the oil palm industry. From a humble source of the edible oil, today oil palm has demonstrated a wide variety of uses, almost by every part of its plant. With the price of the crude petroleum hitting record height every other day, the feasibility of palm oil and oil palm biomass as renewable substitutes for the production of biodiesel has been proposed. Lately, its development has received various criticisms, mainly hinges on the huge generation of solid residues which are currently no profitable use. in view of the aforementioned reason, this paper presents a state-of-the-art review of oil palm industry, its fundamental background studies, propagation and industrial applications. Moreover, the recent developments on the preparation of activated carbons from oil palm waste, its major challenges together with the future expectation are summarized and discussed. Conclusively, the expansion of oil palm waste in the field of adsorption science represents a potentially viable and powerful tool, leading to the superior improvement of pollution control and environmental conservation. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.