Synthesis of palm oil empty fruit bunch magnetic pyrolytic char impregnating with FeCl3 by microwave heating technique

Empty fruit bunch (EFB) is one of the most abundant residues of the Palm oil mill industry in Malaysia. The novel magnetic bio-char was synthesized by single stage microwave heating technique, using EFB in the presence of ferric chloride hexahydrate. The effect of microwave powers, radiation time and impregnation ratio (IR) of ferric chloride hexahydrate to biomass were studied. Also the process parameters such as microwave powers, radiation times and IR were optimized using response surface method. The statistical analysis revealed that the optimum conditions,for the high porosity magnetic bio-char production were at 900 W microwave power, 20 min radiation time and 0.5 (FeCl3: biomass) impregnation ratio. These newly produced magnetic bio-char have a high surface area of 890 m(2) g(-1) and that leads to highly efficient in the removal of methylene blue (MB) with an efficiency of 99.9% from aqueous solution with a maximum adsorption capacity of 265 mg g(-1). (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.