Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 274 (2004) 594–601

www.elsevier.com/locate/jcis

Effect of activation temperature on the textural and chemical properties

of potassium hydroxide activated carbon prepared from pistachio-nut shell
Aik Chong Lua ∗ and Ting Yang
School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Received 18 August 2003; accepted 1 October 2003
Available online 5 December 2003

Abstract
The effect of activation temperature on the textural and chemical properties of activated carbons prepared from pistachio-nut shells by
potassium hydroxide activation was studied. Relatively high activation temperature was required to develop high porosities. However, too
high an activation temperature resulted in the burn-off of the carbon structures and the widening of micropores to meso- and macropores.
The microstructures and microcrystallinities of the carbons prepared were examined using a scanning electron microscope and a powder
X-ray diffraction analyzer, respectively, while the Fourier transform infrared spectra indicated the changes in the surface functional groups
that were formed during the different preparation stages.
 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Activated carbon; Chemical activation; Characterization; Pistachio-nut shell

1. Introduction utilize these abundant solid wastes as starting materials for

Activated carbon is a versatile adsorbent because of its
good adsorption properties. It can be produced from a variety
of carbonaceous source materials. In practice, coal and many
agricultural by-product biomasses are common precursors
for commercial activated carbons. There are many studies in
the literature relating to the preparation and characterization
of activated carbons from agricultural wastes [1–6]. How-
ever, there are few publications reporting on the preparation
of effective adsorbents from pistachio-nut shells. Hence, this
study was carried out to determine the feasibility of using
pistachio-nut shells to prepare highly effective activated car-
bons, specifically for gaseous adsorption. It is therefore nec-
essary to determine the textural and chemical characteristics
of the resulting activated carbons.
The pistachio-nut shell is a hard layer that surrounds the
edible kernel of the nut. According to the Foreign Agricul-
tural Service of the United States Department of Agriculture,
the world pistachio production was 0.21 Mt in 1999; i.e.,
a huge amount of nut shells are available. Normally, these
shells are used as boiler fuel or in landfills. It is proposed to
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: maclua@ntu.edu.sg (A.C. Lua).
0021-9797/$ – see front matter  2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2003.10.001
the preparation of activated carbons because of their high
carbon and low ash contents.
Generally, activated carbons can be prepared via a physi-
cal or a chemical method. In the chemical method, the start-
ing materials are first impregnated with a chemical agent
such as zinc chloride, ZnCl2 , sulfuric acid, H2 SO4 , or potas-
sium hydroxide, KOH. This agent, which has dehydrating
properties, will influence the pyrolytic decomposition and
retard the formation of tars during the carbonization process,
increasing the carbon yield [7]. The process normally takes
place at a temperature lower than that used in the physi-
cal activation process, possibly reducing the energy costs in
activated carbon production. Chemical activation by KOH
was first reported in the late 1970s by AMOCO Corpora-
tion [8,9], and these carbons were commercialized by the
Anderson Development Company in the 1980s [10]. Since
then, there have been many studies reporting on the activa-
tion of carbons using KOH [11–17]. The chemical nature of
activated carbon significantly influences its adsorptive, elec-
trochemical, catalytic, and other properties. The significance
of this area of research has generated many studies [18–20].
However, few papers report on the effects of chemical prepa-
ration conditions on the surface chemistry of the carbon. One
such study was carried out by Guo and Lua [21]. At present,
 A.C. Lua, T. Yang / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 274 (2004) 594–601
Table 1
Properties of pistachio-nut shells
Solid density Hardness Proximate analysis (wt%)
(g/cm3 ) (HRC)a Moisture Volatile Fixed carbon
1.43 26.3 4.04 73.37 21.60
a Note. HRC denotes Rockwell Hardness C scale (dimensionless).
the detailed micrographitic structures of carbon, such as
crystallinity, have not been fully established, even though
some studies in this area have been reported [22–24]. Fur-
thermore, changes in the crystalline structures produced dur-
ing pyrolysis and activation under different chemical condi-
tions have not been reported so far.
This paper describes a study to determine the effects of
activation temperature on the pore evolution, surface func-
tional groups, and crystalline structures of activated car-
bons prepared from pistachio-nut shells. Various analyti-
cal techniques such as N2 adsorption, thermogravimetric
analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spec-
troscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron mi-
croscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analy-
sis were used. The properties of the pistachio-nut shells are
given in Table 1.
2. Experimental
2.1. Adsorbent preparation
Pistachio-nut shells were dried at 110 ◦ C for 12 h to re-
duce the moisture content. They were then crushed with a
coffee grinder and sieved to a size range of 2–2.8 mm. The
experimental procedures, including chemical activation with
KOH, are described below.
A sample of 10 g of shells was placed in a verti-
cal stainless-steel reactor (length 550 mm, interior diam-
eter 38 mm) which was inserted into an electric furnace
(818P, Lenton). Carbonization was carried out under nitro-
gen (99.9995% purity) gas flow at 150 cm3 /min (STP) and a
temperature of 500 ◦ C for 2 h at a heating rate of 10 ◦ C/min.
The heating rate, temperature, and dwell time of the furnace
can be programmed using the control panel.
KOH in the form of pellets was mixed with the result-
ing char in a glass beaker at a ratio of KOH to original
shell masses of 0.50. Then 100 ml of water was added un-
til all the KOH pellets were dissolved. The mixtures were
dried overnight at 120 ◦ C in an oven. The resulting samples
were then placed in the same furnace used for the carboniza-
tion process, heated from room temperature to 300 ◦ C at
10 ◦ C/min, and then held for 1 h. This step was introduced to
prevent carbon loss through the direct attack of steam [11].
Subsequently, the temperature was further increased to a pre-
determined final temperature ranging from 500 to 900 ◦ C at
the same heating rate and held for 2 h before cooling down.
The whole activation process was carried out under a nitro-
gen flow rate of 150 cm3 /min.
595
The products after activation were thoroughly washed
with water, followed by 0.1 M hydrochloric acid, HCl, and
finally by distilled water to remove the residual KOH until
Ash the pH value of the washed solution was between 6 and 7.
0.99
2.2. Textural and chemical characterization
The yield of activated carbon was calculated on a chemi-
cal-free basis and can be used as an indicator of the process
efficiency for the chemical activation process. Proximate
analysis was carried out using a thermogravimetric analyzer
(TGA-50, Shimadzu). Adsorption characterization of the ac-
tivated carbons was determined by nitrogen adsorption at
−196 ◦ C with an accelerated surface area and porosimeter
(ASAP 2010, Micromeritics). The BET surface area was
calculated from the isotherms using the Brunauer–Emmett–
Teller (BET) equation [25]. The cross-sectional area of the
nitrogen molecule is assumed to be 0.162 nm2 . The t-plot
method was applied to calculate the micropore volume [25].
The total pore volume is estimated to be the liquid vol-
ume of adsorbate (N2 ) at a relative pressure of 0.985. The
solid density (ρs ) of the sample was measured by helium
displacement with an ultrapycnometer (UPY-1001, Quan-
tachrome) [26]. The apparent density (ρp ) is thus calculated
from the total pore volume per unit sample mass (Vt ) and ρs :
ρp = 1/(Vt + 1/ρs ). (1)
Hence, the particle porosity (εp ) can be computed from ρp
and ρs :
εp = 1 − (ρp /ρs ). (2)
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra were obtained
using a spectroscope (Spectrum 1, Perkin–Elmer) at reso-
lution 4 cm−1 . Pressed potassium bromide (KBr) pellets
at a sample/KBr weight ratio of 1:100 were scanned and
recorded between 4000 and 450 cm−1 . The pellets were
placed in an oven at 120 ◦ C for 5 h to remove any water
present. Abbreviations used for the FTIR results in this study
are: ν, stretching; δ, bending (in-plane); and γ , bending (out-
of-plane).
Powder X-ray diffraction patterns of the activated carbon
samples were measured by an XRD analyzer (XRD-6000,
Shimadzu) using CuKα (λ = 1.5406 Å) radiation at 40 kV
and 30 mA, using continuous scan mode. The X-ray patterns
were recorded in the scan range 2θ = 10◦ –60◦ , at a scan rate
of 1◦ /min.
Scanning electron microscopy (S360, Leica) and energy
dispersive X-ray analysis (Model 1400, Oxford) studies
were carried out on samples which were gold-coated for
electrical conduction.
2.3. SO2 adsorption test
Adsorption of SO2 by the prepared activated carbon at
room temperature of 25 ◦ C was conducted using a thermo-
gravimetric analysis system (TGA-50, Shimadzu). SO2 gas
596 A.C. Lua, T. Yang / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 274 (2004) 594–601

(2000 ppm, balanced by N2 ) was introduced into the ana-
lyzer chamber, where a platinum pan with about 20 mg of
sample was suspended. The subsequent sample weight gain
due to the amount of SO2 adsorbed onto the sample was
recorded. Two commercial activated carbons (Carbochem
and Microcarb) were also studied for comparison purposes.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of temperature on yield and pore development
of activated carbons
The yield and some other physical properties of the ac-
tivated carbons prepared at different temperatures are given
in Table 2. Increasing activation temperature progressively
reduces the yield of the activated carbon. This is expected,
as increasing temperature will release increasing volatiles,
thereby resulting in decreasing yield. This phenomenon can
also be observed from the proximate analyses (Table 3), in
which the volatile content continuously decreases with in-
creasing activation temperature. At an activation tempera-
ture of 900 ◦ C, only 8.86% of volatiles remained in the final
product, as most of them were released as gaseous products.
Fig. 1 shows the effect of activation temperature on the
surface area and pore properties of chemically activated car-
bons. Increasing the temperature from 500 to 800 ◦ C pro-
gressively increases both the BET surface area and the mi-
cropore volume. This progressive temperature rise increases
the C–KOH reaction rate, resulting in increasing carbon
“burn-off.” Concurrently, the volatiles from the char samples
continue to evolve with increasing activation temperature.
The devolatilization process further develops the rudimen-
tary pore structure in the char, whereas the C–KOH reac-
tion enhances the existing pores and creates new porosities.
These two reactions produce increasing BET surface area
and micropore volume with increasing activation tempera-
ture, as shown in Fig. 1a. However, for a further temperature
increase from 800 to 900 ◦ C, both the BET surface area
and the micropore volume decrease due to excessive carbon
burn-off, resulting in the widening of pores and even the loss
of some walls between the pores. The pore characteristics
are shown in Fig. 1b in which, initially, the nonmicropore
volume remains relatively low for activation temperatures of
500 to 700 ◦ C. At these temperatures, the pores are predomi-
nantly microporous, contributing up to 86% of the total pore
volume. At 800 ◦ C, the steep increase in the nonmicropore

Table 2 Table 3
Yield, densities, and porosities of chemically activated carbons at different Proximate analyses (dry basis) of chemically activated carbons at different
activation temperatures activation temperatures
Activation Yield Solid density Apparent density Porosity Activation Volatile Fixed carbon
conditionsa (%) (g/cm3 ) (g/cm3 ) (%) conditionsa (%) (%)
500–2–0.50 21.14 1.6898 1.0200 39.64 500–2–0.50 19.27 79.13
600–2–0.50 21.05 2.0274 0.9431 53.93 600–2–0.50 14.70 84.61
700–2–0.50 19.62 2.2752 0.8313 63.46 700–2–0.50 11.58 87.69
800–2–0.50 16.21 2.4653 0.7224 70.70 800–2–0.50 9.70 87.85
900–2–0.50 12.35 2.7351 0.7220 73.60 900–2–0.50 8.86 88.04
a Note. a–b–c denotes activation temperature (◦ C)–activation hold time a Note. a–b–c denotes activation temperature (◦ C)–activation hold time
(h)–ratio of KOH to shell masses. (h)–ratio of KOH to shell masses.

Fig. 1. Effect of activation temperature on the BET surface areas and pore volumes of KOH-activated carbons (other activation conditions: ratio of KOH to
shell masses 0.50, hold time 2 h).
 A.C. Lua, T. Yang / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 274 (2004) 594–601
Fig. 2. Effect of activation temperature on the adsorption isotherms of
KOH-activated carbons.
volume implies the commencement of the pore widening ef-
fect, which increases in intensity at 900 ◦ C. Conversely, the
percent micropore volume decreases, showing the conver-
sion of micropores to meso- and macropores. Table 2 shows
that with increasing continual devolatilization and carbon
burn-off for increasing activation temperature, the porosity
of the carbonaceous structure continues to increase. These
effects result in the increase of the solid density and reduce
the apparent density of the activated carbons.
Fig. 2 shows the isotherms for nitrogen adsorption at
−196 ◦ C for the chemically activated carbons prepared at
different activation temperatures. Generally, the shape of the
isotherms changes with increasing activation temperature.
For activated carbons prepared at temperatures of 500 to
700 ◦ C, the nitrogen uptake is only significant in the low-
pressure range, i.e., at relative pressures less than 0.2. In
the high-pressure range, no further adsorption is observed
and therefore the adsorption curve has reached equilibrium.
These isotherms are type I, which represents microporous
solids having a relatively small external surface area, ac-
cording to the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry (IUPAC) classification. However, the adsorption
isotherms for 800 and 900 ◦ C show some deviations; the
knee of the isotherm is more open, with the plateau form-
ing at a higher relative pressure, especially for the activated
carbon prepared at 900 ◦ C. These changing characteristics
indicate the shift from microporosity to the development of
meso- and macroporosities as shown in Fig. 1b. Fig. 2 also
shows that increasing the activation temperature from 500 to
800 ◦ C increases the volume of nitrogen adsorbed; this trend
is consistent with increasing BET surface area as shown in
Fig. 1a. However, at an activation temperature of 900 ◦ C,
its adsorption isotherm is generally lower than for 800 ◦ C.
This is again consistent with the decline in the BET sur-
face area for 900 ◦ C as shown in Fig. 1a when the activation
temperature increases from 800 to 900 ◦ C. The maximum
BET surface area of the pistachio-nut-shell activated carbon
597
in this study is 1946 m2 /g, as compared to those prepared
from oil-palm shell [21], coconut shell [17], and macadamia
shell [14], which are 1408, 2451, and 1600 m2 /g, respec-
tively. The relatively high BET surface area and high propor-
tion of micropores in the pistachio-nut-shell activated carbon
render it very suitable for gas-phase adsorption applications.
3.2. Microstructure
The microstructures of the raw shell, char, and activated
carbon prepared are shown in Figs. 3a–3d. For the raw shell
(Fig. 3a), the surface is quite smooth, without any pores ex-
cept for some occasional cracks. Pyrolysis at 500 ◦ C for 2 h
produced a char (Fig. 3b) with undulating surfaces. There
are many thin sheets or layers within the structure, between
which are some rudimentary pores due to the release of
volatiles. Activation at 700 ◦ C with KOH resulted in the cre-
ation of more pores and a substantial removal of volatiles.
Fig. 3c shows that the surface of the activated carbon, which
was not acid-washed, is quite irregular. The white spheres
and some fluffy materials may be due to the presence of
KOH residues and some other impurities. After intensive
washing by acid, the white color materials disappeared, giv-
ing rise to a pure pore structure as shown in Fig. 3d. Small
pores, transitional pores, and large pores of different shapes
are shown in this micrograph.
SEM-EDX analyses were simultaneously carried out dur-
ing the SEM examinations and the results are given in Ta-
ble 4. The percentage of carbon element in the activated
carbon without washing is expectedly low due to the pres-
ence of the impregnated KOH. However, once the activated
carbon was HCl acid-washed and rinsed thoroughly with dis-
tilled water, any remnant K anions were completely removed
and hence the percentage of carbon increased appreciably.
3.3. Surface chemistry
The FTIR spectrum of the raw pistachio-nut shell is
shown in Fig. 4. This spectrum is quite similar to that of
rockrose [18], which is also a type of lignocellulosic mate-
rial. Band assignments for Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are summarized
in Table 5. In Fig. 4, the band located around 2924 cm−1
corresponds to ν(C–H) vibrations in methyl and methylene
groups [19]. This band contrasts to the δ(C–H) vibrational
bands for –CH3 – and –CH2 =, which are located around
1380 and 1465 cm−1 and are very useful for identifying the
methyl and methylene groups in a given compound [18,20].
The olefinic ν(C=C) absorptions cause the band at about
1643 cm−1 , while the skeletal C=C vibrations in aromatic
rings cause another two bands at about 1505 and 1428 cm−1 .
From the band assignment, the main oxygen groups present
in the pistachio-nut shells are carbonyl groups, ethers, esters,
alcohols, and phenol groups.
The FTIR spectrum of char prepared at 500 ◦ C is also
shown in Fig. 4. A comparison between the char and
the raw shell spectra shows that the C–H vibrations in
598 A.C. Lua, T. Yang / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 274 (2004) 594–601

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Fig. 3. Scanning electron micrographs at a magnification of ×1500 of (a) raw shell (bar length = 20 µm), (b) char (bar length = 50 µm), (c) activated carbon
prepared at 700 ◦ C without washing (bar length = 20 µm), and (d) activated carbon prepared at 700 ◦ C after washing (bar length = 20 µm). Other activation
conditions: hold time of 2 h and impregnation ratio of 0.50.

Table 4
SEM-EDX analyses (atomic percentage by element) of raw shell, char, and
activated carbons
C O Na Cl Ca Si K
Pistachio-nut shell 51.61 39.87 4.35 3.35 0.82 – –
Char500-2h 74.01 8.07 9.33 7.65 0.94 – –
KOH700–2h–0.50a (nw) 22.99 39.87 5.09 3.52 – 3.95 24.58
KOH700–2h–0.50 (w) 80.11 17.42 – – 2.47 – –
a Note. a–b–c denotes activation temperature with KOH (◦ C)–activation
hold time (h)–ratio of KOH to shell masses: (nw) without washing,
(w) washed with HCl acid and distilled water.

methyl and methylene groups (i.e., bands at 2924, 1465,

and 1380 cm−1 ) are not discernable in the char, indicating
that there is a decrease in aliphaticity by the heat treatment
process [27]. However, the aromatic C–H stretching band
at 2918 cm−1 appears. Furthermore, the three characteris-
tic bands at 875, 817, and 750 cm−1 assigned to aromatic
Fig. 4. Fourier transform infrared spectra of pistachio-nut shell and char.
C–H out-of-plane bending vibrations are much more in-
tense than those of the raw shell. These two broad aromatic
bands indicate increased aromatization in the char [20]. The at 2132 cm−1 ) due to the release of light volatile matter
band at 2332 cm−1 , ascribed to ν(C≡C) vibration in alkyne such as H, resulting from the heat treatment process in the
groups, is more intense than that of the raw shell (located char. The olefinic ν(C=C) functional groups (i.e., the band
 A.C. Lua, T. Yang / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 274 (2004) 594–601 599

Table 5
FTIR spectrum band assignments
Band number (cm−1 ) Assignment
3366, 3435, 3362, 3397 ν(O–H) vibration in hydroxyl group
2924 ν(C–H) vibration in alkanes, alkyl groups
2918 ν(C–H) vibration in aromatics group
2553 ν(O–H) vibration in carboxylic acid group
2132, 2332 ν(C≡C) vibration in alkyne group
1736, 1654 ν(C=O) vibration in carbonyl group
1696 ν(C=O) vibration in carboxylate group
1643 ν(C=C) vibration in alkenes group
1586, 1505, 1428, 1566 ν(C=C) vibration in aromatics group
1380, 1465 δ(C–H) vibration in alkanes, alkyl groups
1332, 1374, 1396 ν(C–O) vibration in carboxylate group
1300–900 ν(C–O) vibration in esters, ether or
phenol groups
897, 883, 875, 833, 829, γ (C–H) vibration in benzene derivatives
817, 750
660, 669, 650 γ (O–H) vibration
Fig. 6. Effect of temperature on the Fourier transform infrared spectra of
KOH-activated carbons.

pears an intense band at 1566 cm−1 which can be assigned

Fig. 5. Fourier transform infrared spectra of activated carbons without and
with washing.
at 1643 cm−1 for the raw shell) disappear while the skele-
tal C=C vibrations in aromatic rings which correspond to
the bands at 1586 cm−1 are intensified. The decrease in the
oxygen groups such as ether and alcohol, following the heat
treatment process of pyrolysis, indicates that these parts of
the functional groups are thermally unstable [18].
The FTIR spectra of activated carbons without washing
and with intensive washing are shown in Fig. 5. From these
spectra, some mechanisms can be identified. For the acti-
vated carbon without washing, the bands located at about
1654 and 1396 cm−1 are attributed to carbonyl group (e.g.,
ketone) and carboxylate ion (COO−1 ), respectively. These
carbonyl and carboxylate functional groups are formed pos-
sibly due to the oxidative degradation of aromatic rings dur-
ing the KOH impregnation and heat treatment stages. These
functional groups are generally neutral in nature. After acid
washing and thorough rinsing with distilled water, there ap-
to ν(C=C) aromatic rings. The disappearance of the car-
boxylate group was due to the hydrolytic effect of the HCl
acid, which changed the carboxylate ion to carboxylic acid.
Hence, a band at 2553 cm−1 appears in the washed activated
carbon which characterizes O–H stretching in carboxylic
acid. This carboxylic acid group signifies that the surface
chemistry of the washed activated carbon has changed from
a neutral to an acidic nature and will affect the adsorptive
capacity of the activated carbon to acidic gases such as SO2 .
This effect will be discussed later.
Fig. 6 shows the effect of activation temperature on the
FTIR spectra of chemically activated carbons which were
washed. The spectrum for the carbon activated at 500 ◦ C
is different from those of 700 and 900 ◦ C. The band at
2553 cm−1 for the 500 ◦ C spectrum due to ν(O–H) stretch-
ing disappears from the spectra for 700 and 900 ◦ C. This was
because the higher temperatures at 700 and 900 ◦ C could
break up the bonds of the carboxylic groups and then evapo-
rate them as volatile matter. Increasing the temperature from
500 to 700 ◦ C and then to 900 ◦ C does not influence the pres-
ence of ν(C=C) and ν(C–O) groups in these spectra even
though, for increasing temperature, their magnitudes dimin-
ish progressively.
3.4. Crystallinity structure
Fig. 7 illustrates the X-ray diffraction profiles of the
activated carbons prepared at different temperatures; these
carbons had been thoroughly washed. These activated car-
bons exhibit very broad diffraction peaks and the absence
of a sharp peak reveals a predominantly amorphous struc-
ture [28]. For the activated carbons prepared at 500 and
600 ◦ C, there is only one peak each at around 2θ = 43◦ .
However, for the activated carbons prepared at 700, 800, and
900 ◦ C, there are two peaks centered at around 26◦ and 43◦ ,
which are assigned to the reflection from the (002) plane and
600 A.C. Lua, T. Yang / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 274 (2004) 594–601

the overlapped reflections from the (100) and (101) planes,
respectively. The appearance of the peak at around 26◦ at
higher activation temperatures (700 ◦ C and greater) signi-
fies an increasing regularity of crystalline structure, which
will result in a better layer alignment [23]. Typically, in
a crystalline carbonaceous structure, such as graphite, the
interlayer distance between two adjacent carbon sheets is
0.335 nm. In this study, the peak at 2θ = 26◦ corresponds
to an interlayer distance of 0.338 nm, which is quite simi-
lar to that of graphite. At a temperature of 900 ◦ C, the peak
at 26◦ becomes more distinct, indicating a more ordered and
crystallized structure. Based on these observations, it is pos-
tulated that a high activation temperature burns off the less
ordered components, resulting in a reduction of the amor-
phous structure.
3.5. SO2 adsorption
SO2 is one of the common gas pollutants from chemi-
cal plants and power generating stations. Adsorption of SO2
onto activated carbons has been recognized as a very ef-
fective method to control its emission to the environment.
The amounts of SO2 (concentration of 2000 ppm) adsorbed
onto the KOH-impregnated activated carbons prepared from
pistachio-nut shell and oil-palm shell [21] and two other
commercial activated carbons are shown in Table 6. Among
the activated carbons studied, the pistachio-nut-shell acti-
vated carbon (after acid washing) has the highest adsorption
capacity for the SO2 gas because of its largest BET surface
area.
The adsorption capacity of the activated carbon is not
only dependent on its pore surface area and pore charac-
teristics; its surface chemistry also plays an important role.
Table 7 shows the amount of SO2 adsorbed onto the KOH-
activated carbon and a physical activated carbon prepared
from pistachio-nut shells. Although the BET surface area
and micropore volume for the KOH-activated carbon are
both higher than those of the physically activated carbon,
the amount of SO2 adsorbed by the former is lower than that
adsorbed by the latter, especially in terms of mass of SO2
adsorbed per unit BET surface area (cf. W/A in Table 7).
The reason is possibly due to the surface chemical prop-
erty of the KOH activated carbon. The final acid wash for
the activated carbon was found to increase its BET surface
area by removal of the alkaline residues in the pores. How-
ever, the surface chemistry was changed from a neutral to an
acidic nature as elucidated from Fig. 5. Hence, the washed
activated carbon is less favorable for the adsorption of SO2 ,
which is a typical acidic gas.
4. Conclusions
Based on the experimental studies, the following conclu-
sions can be drawn:
(1) Activated carbons can be prepared from pistachio-nut
shells by chemical activation with KOH. The effects of
activation temperature on the yield, density, and pore de-
velopment of activated carbons were studied. Relatively
high temperature is required to develop a highly porous
structure. However, too high an activation temperature
will result in the burn-off of some carbon structures and
the widening of micropores to meso- and macropores.
(2) The maximum BET surface area of the pistachio-nut-
shell activated carbon was 1946 m2 /g, as compared
to 1408, 2451, and 1600 m2 /g for activated carbons

Table 7
Amount of SO2 adsorbed onto KOH and physically activated carbons
Amount BET surface Micropore W/A
adsorbed area volume
W (mg/g) A (m2 /g) (m3 /g) (µg/m2 )
KOH activated 92 796 0.322 115.6
carbon
Physical activated 94 710 0.206 132.4
Fig. 7. X-ray diffraction profiles of activated carbons prepared at different
carbon
temperatures after washing.

Table 6
Amount of SO2 adsorbed versus BET surface area of various activated carbons
Pistachio-nut-shell Oil-palm-shell Carbochem Microcarb
activated carbon activated carbon
Amount of adsorbed (mg/gC) 91 86 50 71
BET surface area (m2 /g) 1579 1408 950 1151
 A.C. Lua, T. Yang / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 274 (2004) 594–601
prepared from oil-palm shells, coconut shells, and
macadamia shells, respectively. The SO2 adsorption ca-
pacity of the pistachio-nut-shell activated carbon was
higher than those of the two commercial activated car-
bons tested.
(3) The XRD patterns showed a predominantly amorphous
structure of the activated carbon prepared, transforming
it into a structure of greater crystallinity at higher tem-
peratures. The FTIR spectrum showed the presence of
different oxygen groups and olefinic and aromatic car-
bon structures in the raw shell. Subsequent heat treat-
ment resulted in the aromatization of the carbon struc-
ture and a decrease in the oxygen groups. A final acid
wash improved the pore surface area of the activated
carbon but changed the surface chemistry to an acidic
nature, which is not beneficial for adsorbing SO2 gas.
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