Activated carbon from durian shell: Preparation and characterization

Activated carbons were prepared from durian shell by chemical activation with potassium hydroxide. In order to find the optimum pore characteristics, different KOH to durian shell ratio (0.25-1.0) and activation temperature (673-923 K) was employed. The adsorption isotherm of activated carbons produced within these range of temperature and impregnation ratio is a mixture of type I and type IV isotherms. While activated carbons obtained at low chemical impregnation ratio of 0.25 were essentially microporous, with higher impregnation ratio, they become predominantly mesoporous. KOH to durian shell ratio of 0.5 and activation temperature of 773 K can be pinpointed as the optimum condition to obtain high surface area activated carbon. (C) 2008 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.