DEVELOPMENT OF ACTIVATED CARBON FROM TREMBESI SEEDS AS AN ADSORBENT FOR CHROMIUM HEAVY METAL

• Main Author: Wislianda Sianto, Yo'el
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/81868
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

One of the negative impacts of the textile industry is the metal waste produced from the dyeing process, such as chromium, which can damage ecosystems and the health of living organisms. Therefore, metal waste treatment is needed, one method being adsorption. To enhance the use of biomass, heavy metal adsorption can be carried out using biomassbased adsorbents, such as monkeypod seeds. This study aims to create an adsorbent from monkeypod seeds for chromium adsorption and to determine the adsorption parameters that provide the best adsorption performance. The stages of this research include adsorbent preparation, adsorption testing, adsorption performance determination, and adsorbent characterization. Activated carbon, made through carbonization and activation processes, will form activated carbon that can be used as an adsorbent. The adsorbent is tested by contacting it with a chromium solution in a beaker batch-wise, then calculating the adsorption percentage and adsorbent capacity. Adsorbent characterization includes surface area and morphology, as well as adsorbent functional groups. The adsorption parameters varied include carbonization temperature (200-600°C and without carbonization), types of activators (HCl, H3PO4, and NH4Cl, each at 1 M), feed concentration (20-40 ppm), contact time (30-120 minutes), and adsorbent concentration (0,5-1,5 grams per 100 mL of solution). All experiments were conducted at the Bandung Institute of Technology Laboratory. The experimental results showed that the optimal treatment variation for the adsorbent was without carbonization and activation with HCl. This treatment produced an adsorbent with a surface area of 0,3 m²/gram based on BET analysis and a highly porous surface morphology according to SEM analysis. Based on FTIR analysis, the functional groups present on the adsorbent were hydroxyl, methyl, carbonyl, and nitro groups. The optimal conditions for the chromium metal adsorption process with the treated adsorbent were a feed concentration of 40 ppm, a contact time of 30 minutes, and an adsorbent concentration of 1 gram/100 mL solution. The most optimal adsorption process resulted in an adsorption percentage of 49% with an adsorbent capacity of 2,31 mg Cr/g adsorbent.