Preparation and characterization of activated carbon from foxtail palm fruit for potential dye removal

Dyes are broadly used in various industries in order to colour their respectively products. However, excessive use of dye causes environmental pollution and health issues. Hence, the removal efficiency of dye by activated carbon derived from foxtail palm fruit was studied. Furthermore, the characteristics of raw material, activated carbon and treated activated carbon were examined. Nitric acid acts as activating agent in this experiment under condition of 24 hours impregnation time and 500 °C of two and half hours carbonization temperature. Congo red dye was prepared and used for determination of removal efficiency of foxtail palm fruit activated carbon. In addition, characterization was conducted based on carbon yield, weight loss, proximate analysis, bulk density, lignin, cellulose, morphology structure, pore size, functional group and elemental analysis in this experiment. Pore size, morphology structure, elemental analysis and functional group had been compared within raw material, activated carbon and treated activated carbon by using SEM, FTIR and EDX. The presence of hydroxyl and carboxyl functional group and well-developed structure pores were determined for effective removal that found in foxtail palm fruit activated carbon. Thus, the removal efficiency of foxtail palm fruit activated carbon was high with 80.13 % for Congo red removal efficiency. From the result obtained, it can be concluded that foxtail palm fruit has potential to become a good adsorbent for dye removal.