PALM KERNEL SHELL ACTIVATED CARBON USING PHOSPHORIC ACID FOR CRUDE PALM OIL CLARIFICATION: PROPERTIES AND APPLICATION

Abstract

The application of oil palm kernel shell (PKS) as an activated carbon is lately known an alternative and cheap energy. Unfortunately, it needs to activate the surface areas in order to increase the adsorption process. For this, the addition of chemical activator i.e., phosphoric acid is a must. This work aims to determine the properties of palm oil shell activated charcoal and its application for clarification of crude palm oil. The palm shell charcoal was calcined at 500 °C for 1-5 hours. Then, it was grounded become powder and sieved at 200 mesh. The palm shell charcoal was then activated by adding H3PO4 10% wt with ratio 1:4. The obtained palm shell activated charcoal was then characterized by FTIR, XRD, BET and SEM. The charcoal was then applied for clarified of crude palm oil and rotated at 400 rpm for an hour. The structure of palm shell activated charcoal found mesoporous structure with pore size 1.69 Å and surface area 116.587 m2.g-1. The obtained activated charcoal was dominantly hemicellulose and lignin with monoclinic rectangular structures. It was found the optimum concentration of PKS activated carbon for clarification of CPO was 5 wt% calcined at 80 °C. Keywords: Palm kernel shell (PKS), Activated charcoal, Surface areas, Crude palm oil (CPO) clarification