Study of Date Palm Stem as Raw Material in Preparation of Activated Carbon

Activated carbon adsorbent was prepared using Omani date palm tree stem as a precursor. Precursor samples were subjected to thermal treatment (at 400, 500 and 600 oC) before or after impregnation with either H3PO4 (85 wt %) or KOH (3 wt %). The activated carbon obtained was characterized by BET (surface area and porosity), Gas Pycnometry (true density) and SEM (texture). Sample subjected to carbonization, without chemical activation, exhibited low surface areas ~ 1.0 m2/g at 400 and 500 oC and 124 m2/g at 600 °C. Further treatment of such samples with either the acid or the base did not show improvement in surface area or other properties. Impregnations of the precursor with acid before carbonization significantly improved the surface area to as high as 1,100 m2/g at a carbonization temperature of 500 °C. Thus, activated carbon with a moderate surface area could be produced from date palm stem using low carbonization temperature.