PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ACTIVATED CHARCOAL FROM COCOA POD

Abstract

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is one of the widely cultivated crops in the world. Cocoa fruit consist of cocoa pod (70%), cocoa bean (27-29%), and placenta (1-3%). cocoa bean is the major raw material in the production of chocolates, ice-cream, soft drinks, confectionaries, cosmetics, health drinks, and pharmaceutical. But cocoa pod being the major by-product is wasted causing extensive pollution to environment. Cocoa pod can be converted to activated charcoal that has wide range of application in various industries.in this study activated charcoal was prepared from cocoa pod. The production of AC was done in two stages. First carbonization of cocoa pod by pyrolysis to produce charcoal, then activation of produced charcoal using chemicals to increase its porosity. The process parameters were pyrolysis temperature (250⁰C, 300⁰C, 350⁰C, 400⁰C) chemicals used for activation (HCl & KOH) and normality of chemicals used (3N, 4N, 5N). The optimized condition was found to be pyrolysis at 300⁰C for 1 hour with HCl as best activating reagent at a 3N. The activated charcoal obtained using optimised parameters are further characterised by factors such as moisture content, ash content, fixed carbon content, volatile matter content, pH, bounded carbon content and SEM analysis. Finally the produced activated carbon was tested in water and oil to study its effects.