SINTESIS DAN KARAKTERISASI KARBON AKTIF DARI LIMBAH BIOMASSA RANTING TANAMAN TEH UNTUK ADSORPSI GAS KARBON DIOKSIDA

Abstract

Industrial progress and human activities, especially from the burning of fossil fuels activity, also contribute to the emission of carbon dioxide gas. Currently, 90% of greenhouse gas emissions come from carbon dioxide gas. One of the steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. One effort to reduce the concentration of CO2 gas is by adsorption process using an adsorbent. Absorption is the adsorption process of adsorbate in the form of a gaseous fluid or slurry onto the surface of the adsorbent. Adsorbents are the materials to adsorb or bind molecules or ions from the liquid or gaseous phase to the surface. One of the widely used adsorbents is activated carbon. Activated carbon has received more attention in natural gas adsorption research because of its high adsorbing capacity and easy availability. This research aims to obtain activated carbon products from agro-industrial waste raw materials such as tea twigs waste in the production process. Tea twigs contain high cellulose and carbon (about 44%) and low water content, so they have the potential to function as activated carbon precursors. Making activated carbon is carried out by starting from the carbonization process followed by chemical activation. The carbonization process was carried out in a pyrolysis reactor by applying various carbonization temperatures, using 400 and 500C, and carbonization times of 1 hour and 3 hours. The chemical activation process used a KOH activator by applying variation concentrations and activator solutions. Various concentrations of 40% and 60%, as well as ratios of KOH and charcoal 2:1 and 4:1, were chosen for each carbonized sample. The effectiveness results of the activated carbon process that had been obtained previously will be tested through BET, TPD-CO2, and SEM characterization to determine the surface area of activated carbon and CO2 absorption capacity (in mmol/g). The best-activated carbon results were obtained from variations in temperature and carbonization time of 400°C and 3 hours, with a concentration of 40% and a KOH: charcoal ratio of 4:1. The CO2 adsorption capacity value obtained was 5.3623 mmol/g.