Surface properties of activated carbon prepared from wastes

Abstract In this study, activated carbons were produced from animal wastes (cow dung) by chemical activation. The effects of the activating agent and the impregnation ratio were investigated at constant temperature of 700 °C. Chemical activations were carried out by mixing the solution of ZnCl 2 or KOH and animal wastes with a chemical agent/waste, ratio (wt/wt) varying from 0.5 to 2.5. The pore properties including the Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller(BET) surface area, pore volume, pore size distribution and average pore diameter of the activated carbons were determined by physical adsorption of N 2 at − 196 °C. The highest BET surface areas and total pore volumes were achieved as 1367 m 2 /g and 0.788 cm 3 /g for ZnCl 2 ‐activated carbon and as 1916 m 2 /g and 1.13 cm 3 /g for KOH‐activated carbon, respectively. The microstructure of the activated carbons was examined by SEM. The surface functional groups were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR). This study has demonstrated that high surface area activated carbons can be prepared from the chemical activation of animal wastes with KOH and ZnCl 2 as activating agents. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.