Abstract:
Activated carbon represents a porous carbon material with high surface area and
porosity. Due to its characteristic of high level of adsorption capacity, it is used widely
in many industrial applications such as water treatment, catalysis, fuel cells, and others.
A large quantity of watermelon are produced every year in Malaysia which have led to
the large quantities of fruit wastes generation and brought adverse impacts to the
environment. The waste watermelon peel is normally used as cattle feed and fertilizer
while the remaining quantity will be disposed through combustion or landfilling.
Recently, pyrolysis is a promising technique to convert the agricultural waste into a
useful material instead of discarded to the environment. This study is aimed to evaluate
the feasibility of microwave pyrolysis process for the preparation of good quality of
activated carbon from waste watermelon peel via chemical activation method. The
influences of impregnation ratio on the adsorption capacity, carbon yield, BET surface
area, porosity, and thermal stability of activated carbon were investigated. The
impregnation ratio is found to have significant effect in producing good quality of
activated carbon. It is because impregnation ratio is important for pores development
on the activated carbon which in turns affects the adsorption capacity. Impregnation
ratio from 100 wt% to 300 wt% were used in each sets of experiment to determine the
effects on the quality of activated carbon. In conclusion, waste watermelon peel was
anticipated to be a suitable raw material in producing high quality of activated carbon
with high content of carbon, thermal stability, BET surface area, and porosity.
