Extraction of Activated Carbon from Areca Bat Waste from Areca Bat Plate Making Industry

Department of Civil Engineering, Dr. N.G.P Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

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Abstract

The excessive generation of waste resulting from large-scale consumption of areca bat products poses significant environmental and sustainability challenges. In this study, areca bat waste was converted into activated carbon through optimized Chemical and Physical Activation Methods (CPAM). Physical activation involved carbonization under an inert atmosphere followed by steam or CO₂ activation at 800–1100 °C, whereas chemical activation using phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) enabled simultaneous carbonization and activation at lower temperatures (400–900 °C). The H₃PO₂-activated carbon exhibited a higher BET surface area of 538.4 m²/g and pore volume of 0.41 cm³/g compared to physically activated carbon, which showed 362.7 m²/g and 0.29 cm³/g, respectively. Wastewater treatment experiments demonstrated superior removal efficiencies for chemically activated carbon, achieving 84.4% COD removal, 86.4% BOD removal, and 88.9% TSS reduction. In addition, advances in characterizing materials with respect to BET surface area measurement and SEM have significantly expanded our ability to assess the physical and chemical characteristics of adsorption of activated carbon.