Microwave-assisted Production of Biochar from Oil Palm Mesocarp Fibre and Its Dye Removal Properties

MUHAMMAD FAKHRUL SYUKRI ABD AZIZ; RICHARD PUJRO; NUR FASHYA MUSA; ZAINUL AKMAR ZAKARIA; ULISES SEDRAN

Environmental Quality Management

Wiley

Año: 2021

1520-6483

Malaysia is one of the largest producers of palm oil in the world, which inevitablywould also resulted in huge production of oil palm biomass. Without proper management,these biomass could pose serious environmental problems. Oil palm mesocarp fibre(OPMF) is one type of oil palm biomass which can be processed further for usefulapplication such as dye removal from water. In the present study, OPMF was thermallytreated using microwave-assisted pyrolysis. The sample was characterized (proximate,ultimate, lignin content, BET, FTIR and SEM) and investigated using thermogravimetricanalyser. The activation energy and pre-exponential factor achieved from the Kissinger,Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS) and Ozawa-Flynn- Wall (OFW) methods were 159.74kJ/mol, 161.90 kJ/mol, 163.29 kJ/mol and 1.02 x 10-10 min−1, 1.90 x 10-13 min−1, 3.79 x 10-17min−1 respectively. The dye removal performance was evaluated using methylene blue(MB) with parameters of initial concentration of MB, contact time, biochar dosage,temperature and pH. The kinetics of MB removal by OPMF was best described using thepseudo-second order kinetic model, followed by Elovich, pseudo-first order and Weber-Morris. As a conclusion, OPMF generated from oil palm processing has the potential to beused as alternative raw materials to produce biochar for dye removal application.