Impact of process conditions on preparation of porous carbon from date palm seeds by KOH activation

Date palm seed being one of the major waste biomass produced in UAE, is assessed for its potential to be an appropriate precursor for preparation of porous carbon by utilizing KOH as an activating agent through application of process optimization. Process optimization was performed using the popular response surface methodology adopting a Box-Behnken design, to maximize porous carbon BET surface area and % yield, by altering activation temperature, activation time and impregnation ratio. The chemical reactions involved during the impregnation and the carbonization processes for these hydroxide/lignocellulose mixtures present in date palm seed have been proposed. A deep insight has been obtained concerning the possible reactions mechanism. The adsorption capacity was estimated using Iodine adsorption, which infers micropore nature of the porous carbon and it can be utilized for an effective waste water treatment with smaller molecular size substrates.