ACTIVATED CARBON BASED CANARIUM SCHEWEINFURTHII SHELLS FOR THE REMOVALOF NITRATE IONS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTION

The activated carbons preparation conditions from canarium scheweinfurthii shells were investigated. The two most influenced factors: the H3PO4 concentration (30 to 60 %), and the activation temperature (300 to 700°C) were studied at constant impregnation ratio of 1/1. The analysis of experimental data showed that, the optimum preparation conditions were achieved for an activation temperature of 700°C and H3PO4 concentration of 30 %. Prior to the preparation, the proximate analysis of the precursor gave, 32.70 %, 2.10 %, 63.34 % and 1.86 % for the fixed carbon, moisture, volatile matter and ash contents respectively. The iodine number was found to be 436.8mg/g and the BET surface area of 397.5 m2/g. According to the batch adsorption study, the maximum quantity of nitrate ions adsorbed was 7.40 mg/g at the following reaction conditions: 0.05 g of adsorbent, 10 mg/L of adsorbate concentration, pH of 2 and 40 minutes of contact time.