Investigation of Changes in Surface Chemistry on Adsorption Properties of Palm Shell-Based Activated Carbon

The impact of changes in surface chemistry on adsorption properties of a palm shell-based activated carbon was studied# two methods for producing activated carbon with basic surface were considered: heat treatment and ammonia treatment# it was found that decomposition of oxygen containing acidic groups and introduction of basic nitrogen functionalities on the carbon surface improved the adsorption ability of modified carbons# amination was proposed as an alternative pathway to increase the adsorption ability of activated carbon toward acidic gases particularly at relatively high temperatures# it was apparent from the literature survey that the nature of the nitrogen surface groups depends on the temperature of ammonia modification# the results showed that amides, imides, imines, amines and nitriles dominated at low temperature (<600 ºc) while thermally stable aromatic rings such as pyrrole and pyridinic-like functionalities dominated at higher temperature (>600 ºc)#