Utilization of Bagasse from PG Kwala Madu as Precursor in Activated Carbon Production Muhammad Faizul Hisham, Rosdanelli Hasibuan*, Rondang Tambun, Viqry Pramananda
Chemical Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Suamtera Utara, Jalan Almamater Kampus USU Padang Bulan Medan 20155, Medan, Indonesia
*)rosdanelli[at]yahoo.com
Abstract
Pabrik Gula Kwala Madu (PG Kwala Madu) is one of the sugar mill units owned by PT Perkebunan Nusantara II, located in Langkat Regency, North Sumatera Province, with a production capacity of 4,000 tons of sugarcane/day. The operation of PG Kwala Madu certainly has an impact on the solid waste produced, namely bagasse biomass. The goal of this research is to utilize bagasse waste as a precursor for activated carbon production. The production of activated carbon was done by chemical the activation method using H3PO4, KOH, and NaCl as activators. The production of activated carbon was carried out in two stages: Carbonization using a furnace at a temperature of 250C for 1 hour, and the second stage was activation for 30 minutes followed by impregnation for 24 hours. Moisture content analysis of bagasse activated carbon was 13.39%- 16.82%- and 8.17% for with H3PO4, KOH, and NaCl respectively. Furthermore, the use of NaCl activator was able to produce activated carbon with a satisfactory iodine adsorption number, namely 1,364.771 mg/g
Keywords: Activated carbon, bagasse, Kwala Madu
Topic: Materials Sciences: Synthetic and Characterization
