Preparation and Characterization of Activated Carbon from Jackfruit Peel

Abstract

Activated carbon in powdered form was prepared from jackfruit peel, a domestic waste. Jackfruit peel having limited economic value has been used as a precursor material to prepare activated carbon. Activated carbon was prepared by the chemical activation of the raw material (Jackfruit peel) which was initially processed and subsequently subjected to activation using varying activating agents such as Potassium Hydroxide (KOH), Zinc Chloride (ZnCl2) and Phosphoric Acid (H3PO4). Surface characteristics such as porosity, iodine number, moisture content, pH, ash content and specific gravity of the prepared activated carbon were estimated. The surface properties from different characterization like FTIR, SEM, TGA analysis indicated that the activated carbon prepared can be utilized as a suitable adsorbent.