OPTIMIZATION OF PREPARATION CONDITIONS FOR ACTIVATED CARBON FROM MUSA ACUMINATA PSEUDO-STEM: A NEW PRECURSOR USING BOX–BEHNKEN DESIGN

Abstract

Musa Acumınata pseudo-stem (MAPS) was evaluated as a new precursor for the preparation of activated carbon via zinc chloride (ZnCl₂) activation. The preparation conditions were optimized through Box–Behnken design (BBD) to maximize iodine number (IN). A single quadratic model was developed to correlate the preparation variables namely; activation temperature, impregnation ratio and activation time for IN responses. A total of 17 individual experiments was conducted and the results showed that the response surface methodology (RSM based on BBD is very applicable to optimize preparation conditions activated carbon from MAPS. The predicted optimum conditions for the preparation of AC from MAPS via ZnCl₂ activation was 557 °C reaction temperature, 30 min reaction time and 1:1 ZnCl₂–MAPS ratio, resulting in IN of 1062 mg/g. Porosity parameters and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were used to evaluate the textural properties and morphology of the AC. The results revealed that MAPS could be recommended as a promising precursor for the production of activated carbon via ZnCl₂ activation due to its high IN.