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A review on activated carbon: process, application and prospects

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 Journal of Advanced Civil Engineering Practice and Research
00xx-xxxx © Ababil Publishers
www.ababilpub.com/jacepr
http://dx.doi.org/xx

Review Article

A review on activated carbon: process, application and prospects

1,2 1,* 2 3 4 5 6
M.A. Tadda , A. Ahsan , A. Shitu , M. ElSergany , T. Arunkumar , Bipin Jose , M. Abdur Razzaque , N.N. Nik
1
Daud
1
Department of Civil Engineering, & Institute of Advanced Technology, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
2
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria
3
e-School of Health and Environmental Studies, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Dubai, UAE
4
Institute for Energy Studies, Anna University, Chennai, 600025, Tamil Nadu, India
5
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, Mangalore 575025, Karnataka, India
6
Nuclear Power and Energy Division, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Agargaon, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
*Corresponding author. Tel. +60389464492; Fax: +60386567129; Email: ashikcivil@yahoo.com, amimul@upm.edu.my (A. Ahsan).

HIGHLIGHTS

• Activated carbon (AC) is used in different states of applications as a reliable adsorbent.

• AC has adsorptive, catalytic, electrochemical and other useful properties.
• AC is applied in water, wastewater and leachate treatments.
• AC is found to be effective in adsorption of solutes from aqueous solutions.

KEYWORDS ABSTRACT

Activated carbon Activated carbon (AC) is used in different states of applications after its
Pyrolysis discovery as a strong and reliable adsorbent. An overview on AC is presented
Adsorbent together with revisiting the sources of AC generation; methods used to generate
Activation AC comprising of pyrolysis activation; physical activation; chemical activation
Surface area and steam pyrolysis. The important factors affecting the AC production, the
possible applications of AC and their future prospects are also discussed. AC is
ARTICLE HISTORY applied in water, wastewater and leachate treatments in many countries,
especially to polish the color, remove the odor and some heavy metals. It is
JACEPR-2016002* cheap and available, and can be produced from agricultural waste materials,
Received 15 May 2015 e.g. rice husk, palm oil shell and coconut shell. The AC’s fine and porous
Received revision 24 November 2015 structure and an extremely large particle surface area (>1000 m2/g) results in
Accepted 10 January 2016 making it possessed powerful adsorptive properties. Therefore, the adsorption
Available online 30 June 2016 process using AC is found to be a potentially viable method of removing
pollutants from aqueous solutions.
© 2016 Ababil Publishers. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction abundantly utilized as an air purifier in atmospheric air

The origin of activated carbon (AC) is associated with
Ancient Egypt (1500 BC), whereby the Egyptians make use of
its adsorbent characteristics for water purifications and
medicinal purposes. During the last few years, adsorption of
gases on charcoal has been reported by a Swedish chemist, Karl
Wilhelm [1]. Within recent decades, the AC was used in
industries as a decolorizing agent. However, the potential use of
AC was actually capitalized during the First World War,
whereby AC was used in gas mask against toxic gases.
Respiratory protective devices were developed as personal
protective tools against the use of toxic gases during wars.
Hence, granular activated carbon (GAC) has found application
during the first World War and still been used nowadays [1,2].
During the beginning of 20th century, the first AC production
plant was commissioned in Germany purposely for a sugar
refining industry. Lately, some of the plants emerged to produce
AC for wastewater treatment processes. Recently, the AC is
contaminant cleaning, color removal of industrial and
automobile exhaust, food and pharmaceutical products also used
as refrigerator deodorizers and in advanced applications such as
nuclear plants. In the late 1930’s undoubtedly, AC gained huge
momentum and popularity in industrial sectors, for both gaseous
and aqueous phase applications. In fact, various new carbon
production processes were developed to meet the continuous
increasing industrial needs. Within the period of 1939 to 1945, a
considerable advancement took place whereby several
chemically saturated carbon were produced for war and nerve
gases trapping [1].
As of 2014, the estimated amount of AC was assumed to be
about 1.1 million metric tons from AC industries with a 10%
increase in the projected demand for fresh AC. there will be an
expected increase in demand for AC in the United States of
America (USA) due to the new federal laws directing removal
of heavy metals from coal-fed power plants effluent before
discharging it into the streams [3].

Copyright © 2016 Ababil Publishers. All rights reserved.

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[*This article is transferred from JDWP-2015004]
Journal of Advanced Civil Engineering Practice and Research, 2(1):7-13, 2016
Tadda et al./ A review on activated carbon: process, application and prospects
Although, previous works presented findings on AC regarding
its production, characteristics and possible applications.
However, this review work gives an overview on AC as related
to its generation, possible applications and future prospects.
2. Activated carbon overview
Activated carbon (AC) popularly, known as activated
charcoal or activated coal, and is a common term for carbon
materials, which comprises charcoal. The fine structure
possessed by AC increased the surface area (>1000 m2/g) of
pores that result in the possession of powerful adsorptive
properties. Carbon is available in three main forms; these are;
powder, granular and pellet. Nonetheless, the most frequently
used are granular and powdered AC [4-6]. Fig. 1 shows a pile of
granular AC while Fig. 2 shows a scanning electron
microstructure of AC. Moreover, there are other forms of AC,
which impressively attract researchers’ attention. Amongst
which are; fiber which is mainly obtained from petroleum pitch
and isotropic coal, felts and clothes. The AC is found to be
useful in removing many contaminants from both potable water
and wastewater as a result of its high surface area[7].
Fig. 1 Granular activated carbon [39].
Fig. 2 Scanning electron microstructure of AC [40].
The AC adsorption properties encourage researchers to use
AC in almost every field of chemistry, basically due to its
simplicity of design and operation, selectivity towards certain
substances as well as total elimination of pollutants even from
dilute solutions. This has resulted in an increasing quest in
setting-up durable, dependable and selective alternatives
towards environmental protection and conservation. The
magnitudes of ground and surface water contaminations have
been increasing as a result of large quantities of domestic and
industrial wastes that are discharged to the environment which
eventually has a detrimental effect on the environmental quality
[7,8].
Journal of Advanced Civil Engineering Practice and Research, 2(1):7-13, 2016
8
Additionally, the increased in urban population eventually
makes the concentration of nitrogen high in domestic
wastewater. Industrial wastewaters like that of tannery,
fertilizer, textile, landfill leachate, etc. having a high
concentration of organics and ammonia nitrogen. In fact, the
process of adsorption using AC has been confirmed to be
competitive with other several methods of removing pollutants
both in terms of adsorption capacity, sustainability, cost, and
selection of bio-solvent and other residual wastes as adsorbents
[7]. Notwithstanding the AC’s inexhaustible use through its
adsorption properties, its major challenge comes when it
involves higher industrial application cost compared to the
available commercially used adsorbents in the market and
difficulties linked to its regeneration.
3. Sources of generating AC
It was reported that Low-cost materials, rich in high
concentration of carbon and low inorganic contents have been
used as raw materials for AC production [9,10]. Several
researches reported a variety of raw materials that can be used
to produce AC. Some of the widely used are agro-industrial by-
products, which are characterized by their renewability, high
mechanical strength, cheapness, abundance, as well as low ash
contents.
In fact, several studies have reported the utilization of
agricultural wastes biomass residues in AC production such as
rice husk [11,12] as coal, jujube seeds [9], sawdust [13], tropical
wood [14,15], palm shells [16], durian peel [17-19], corn cobs
[20], coconut shells [7] [19,21-23], walnut shells [24],
watermelon [25], tobacco stems, bean husks, hazelnut shell,
banana peels, mangosteen shells and many more [10]. Also,
even non-agricultural products like waste-automobile tires were
found as cheap sources of AC [26]. The maximum adsorptive
capacity of AC largely depends on the raw materials’ structure
and its production processes. Table 1 presents the characteristics
of some materials utilized in the manufacturing of AC, whereby
different raw materials were examined for percentages of
carbon, volatile, density, and ash contents. Also, the texture of
AC formed from these raw materials was observed and recorded
accordingly.
4. Methods of AC generation
Generation of AC reported by many researchers were
classified into four main processes which are pyrolysis process
[27], physical and chemical activation process [9,10,27,28] and
carbonization and steam/thermal activation [9-11,27].
The physical activation includes carbonization and activation
step whereby steam and carbon dioxide (CO2) are the most
broadly used reagents, significantly influencing the porosity of
the AC. The AC generation using chemical activation entails a
single step whereby chemical reagents like potassium
hydroxide, phosphoric acid, and zinc chloride can simply be
used at room temperature. However, depending on the chemical
reagents used, impurities like zinc (Zn) and phosphorus (P) can
be found in AC product, which at the same time may result in
Tadda et al./ A review on activated carbon: process, application and prospects
raising the operation cost due to additional of chemical used [9].
4.1 Pyrolysis process
Thermochemical conversion of organic biomass into gaseous
or/and liquid fuels at extremely high temperature in the absence
of halogen (mainly oxygen) is termed as pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is
a simultaneous process that changes both the chemical
composition and physical phase of materials and is irreversible.
Pyrolysis process is mostly observed when materials are
exposed to higher temperatures [29]. Some features of pyrolysis
such as temperature has the most significant effect and then
followed by retention time, heating rate and nitrogen flow rate.
Normally, when the reaction temperature increased, causes
reduction in both AC and char production, while at the same
time increasing the pyrolysis temperature leads to a drop off of
solid yield and an increase in both gases and liquid percentages
yield. On the other hand, raising the temperature leads to raised
ash and AC percentage, whereas the volatile matter gets
reduced. Therefore, AC with greater quality is obtained at a
higher temperature.
Moreover, increasing the temperature that eventually
decreases char yield could also be because of major
decomposition of biomass at elevated temperatures or in the
course of secondary decomposition of char residues. At the
same time, higher temperatures at which secondary
decomposition occurs could lead to getting some gaseous
products that are non-condensable and ultimately increasing gas
yield [10]. Fig. 3 presents laboratory setup for the activated
reactor and fixed-bed pyrolysis.
Fig. 3 Laboratory-setup of activated reactor and fixed-bed
pyrolysis.
1. N2 cylinder 2. Valve; 3. Vapor trap, 4. Gasometer;
5. Pressure gauge; 6. Water vapor boiler; 7. Thermocouple;
8. Fixed bed reactor; 9. Filter and condenser; 10. Impinged ice
bath; 11. Absorbent [27].
4.2 Physical activation process
Physical activation is a two-step process. Carbonization of
carbonaceous materials comes first, then activation of the
resulting char at high temperatures in the presence of CO2,
steam, air or three mixtures serving as oxidizing gases.
Journal of Advanced Civil Engineering Practice and Research, 2(1):7-13, 2016
9
The CO2 is usually used as activation gas being easy to
handle, clean and possesses a slow reaction rate at a temperature
around 800˚C, which facilitates control of the activation
process. A temperature range of 400˚C and 850˚C was found to
be the carbonization temperature, though it may sometimes
reach up to 1000˚C while activation temperature between 600˚C
and 900˚C. The AC produced using physical activation method
is somehow deficient in some qualities, which makes them
unsuitable to be use as filters or as adsorbents. It worth
mentioning that physical activation can be performed using
various agricultural biomass residues such as mango pits, rice
husk, rice hull, sawdust, sunflower shells, corncobs, olive pits,
pine cone, wood waste, corn-hulls, cotton residues, oak, tobacco
stems, corn stover, coconut coir pith, almond shells and peanut
hulls [9,10].
4.3 Chemical activation process
In the chemical activation process, involves multiple two
steps occurring simultaneously, with the chemical activating
agents mixing with the precursor, as oxidants and dehydrates.
Performing activation and carbonization simultaneously during
the chemical activation process at lower temperature results in
having better porous structures of AC, even though, concern
about environmental protection may limit the use of chemical
agents for activation. Moreover, some chemicals that are widely
used as activating agents are zinc chloride (ZnCl2), potassium
hydroxide (KOH), trihydroxidooxidophosphorus, phosphoric
acid (H3PO4) and potassium carbonate (K2CO3). Whereas the
agricultural wastes that are being reduced with the earlier
mentioned chemicals consist of; olive seed, apricot stones,
macadamia, pecan-shells, peanut-hulls, nut-shells, almond-
shells, corn-cob, hazelnut shells, rice husks, rice straw and
cassava peel [10].
4.4 Steam pyrolysis
In this process, the raw agricultural waste materials are either
heated at a temperature range of 500–700˚C under a flow of
pure steam or heated at a higher temperature range of 700–
800˚C under a flowing steam. Steam pyrolysis has been widely
studied and successfully applied on various types of agricultural
waste biomass such as rice husk, jujube seed, sawdust, tropical
wood waste, palm shells, durian peel, corn cobs, coconut shells,
tobacco stems, hazelnut shell, banana peels, mangosteen shells,
etc.
However, the AC produced by steam pyrolysis was generally
reported to be less effective, with an exception of those
produced from cherry stones, apricot and almond shell [10].
Table 2 shows the ultimate and proximate analysis of
agricultural residues as they are generated in large quantity
worldwide.
5. Factors affecting AC productions
5.1 Raw materials
Tadda et al./ A review on activated carbon: process, application and prospects 10

Most organic substances with high carbon content are prepare AC at a temperature above 800˚C. This goes along with
potential raw materials for AC production. To produce a porous an increase of fixed carbon and ash content, which may be
carbon structure, the under listed factors can be considered. ascribed to the removal of volatile matter in the material during
carbonization process. Thus, results in more stable carbon and
i. High carbon content ash-forming minerals.
ii. Low inorganic content (i.e. low ash)
iii. Potential extent of activation The Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area
iv. Low degradation upon storage (Adsorption on the upper layer commences immediately after
v. High density and sufficient volatile content the first layer has completed) is suggested to be another
vi. Stability of supply in the countries important feature showing the influence of production
vii. Inexpensive materials. temperature on the AC characteristics. As the BET surface area
increases, the activation temperature also increases. This might
Lignocellulosic materials were generally accepted as precursor be due to the advancement of new pores due to the release of
for AC production and constitute about 45% of the total raw volatile matter and the broadening of presence ones as the
materials used. Table 1 shows the characteristics of some raw activation temperature goes high [5,32].
materials used in the AC production. To produce AC with low
ash content, it is important to get materials with low inorganic 5.3 Activation time
content. Full control of the manufacturing process requires a
moderately high volatile content. Coconut shell and fruit stones The activation time also has a greater influence on both the
are the most commonly raw materials. This might be because of carbonization process and properties of AC in addition to the

Table 1 Characteristics of some materials used in the manufacture of AC [4].

Raw material Carbon Volatiles Density Ash Texture of AC
(mass %) (mass %) (cm3g-1) (mass %)
Soft wood 40 – 45 55 – 60 0.4 – 0.5 0.3 – 1.1 Soft, large-pore volume
Hard wood 40 – 42 55 – 60 0.55 – 0.8 0.3 – 1.2 Soft, large-pore volume
Lignin 35 – 40 58 – 60 0.3 – 0.4 - Soft, large-pore volume
Nutshells 40 – 45 55 – 60 1.40 - Hard, large micro-pore volume
Lignite 55 – 70 25 – 40 1.0 – 1.35 5–6 Hard, small-pore volume
Soft coal 65 – 80 20 – 30 1.25 – 1.5 2 – 12 Medium-hard, medium-pore volume
Petroleum coke 70 – 85 15 – 20 1.35 0.5 – 0.7 Medium-hard, medium-pore volume
Semi-hard coal 70 – 75 10 – 15 1.45 5 – 15 Hard, large-pore volume
Hard coal 85 – 95 5 – 15 1.5 – 1.8 2 – 15 Hard, large-pore volume

their hardness, volatile content, and relatively high density, and
content, which make them most prepared for hard GAC
production. Moreover, other materials for example coconut-
shell, olive stones and peach waste are commercially utilised for
micro-porous AC production and as well find usage for a
variety of applications [5].
5.2 Temperature
In the AC production, the activation temperature plays a vital
role in affecting the characteristic of the AC produced. As for
commercial purposes AC, it is normally carried out in a mixture
of steam and CO2 at a temperature above 800˚C. In recent times,
researchers have been up-and-doing to optimize final activation
temperature in order to reduce cost and period of AC
production. Several studies have been reported which indicated
that activation temperature has great influence surface area and
production yield of AC [30,31]. The activation temperature is
between 200 to 1100˚C. However, a temperature range of 400 to
500˚C was reported by previous researchers to be considered
regardless of time taken and the impregnation ratio for a variety
of raw materials. Therefore, increasing activation temperature
always results in the reduction of AC yield during production,
which at the same time results in increasing the volume of
volatile substances released. Generally, it is inappropriate to
activation temperature. Few decades earlier, it was established
that the activation times widely used were range from 1 to 3
hours [5] for palm-fruit bunch, banana peel, and coconut shell.
Previous studies have reported that as the activation time
increased gradually, the BET surface area also increased while
the AC percentage yields decrease. These might be attributed to
the volatilization of organic substances from raw agricultural
waste residues. Zarifah et al. [5] observed that as excessive
activation time occurs, it causes the reduction in product yield
6. Possible applications of AC
The availability of high surface area of particles possessed by
AC as well its adsorptive ability makes it a significant
constituent in many industries. Industries like; petroleum,
fertilizer plants, nuclear, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, textiles,
automobile, and vacuum manufacturing all uses AC [10]. AC
has found to be good porous materials, which make it very
effective in adsorption of solutes from aqueous solutions. This
was suggested to be due to the possession of large specific
surface area. Furthermore, it has been extensively used for;
solvents recovery, separation of gases, dye removal from
industrial wastewater and as a catalyst in the process of
biodiesel production.

Journal of Advanced Civil Engineering Practice and Research, 2(1):7-13, 2016

Tadda et al./ A review on activated carbon: process, application and prospects 11

Additionally, in a novel low-cost process developed for
treating leachate using AC placed in a contactor (i.e. a
laboratory plastic column), optimum pollutant removal
efficiencies for BOD5, COD, TDS, TSS and pH were observed
and the results revealed that AC filtration had an effect on the
removal of pollutants after electrolysis, though the overall
performance of the treatment using AC depends on the
concentration and chemical composition of the effluent contents
[33]. As environmental pollution is becoming a more serious
problem which needs attention of researchers, the need for AC
is therefore growing all over the globe [28,34,35]. Moreover, in
a study conducted by Khaleel et al. [36] using coconut and palm
shell granular activated carbon to treat institution water yielded
that, both GACC and GACP can be used to remove high ratios
of BOD, turbidity, TDS, TSS and COD from wastewater.
In addition, the findings of Khaleel et al. [36] suggested that a
simple pre-treatment like electrolysis can be conducted on the
wastewater to be treated prior to using the GACC or GACP so
as to get higher removal efficiencies for the various pollutants
present. The results of experiments utilizing GAC prepared
from coconut shell (GACC) and GAC from palm shell (GACP)
were presented to reduce BOD, COD, turbidity, TDS, TSS and
pH in wastewater. A comparison of these two techniques was
undertaken to identify ways to improve the efficiency of the
treatment process.
The adsorptive, catalytic, electrochemical and other useful
properties of AC are significantly influenced by its chemical
nature. In general, AC having acidic chemical property is
promising for basic gas adsorption, example ammonia. For
acidic gas adsorption like sulfur dioxide, the AC having basic
chemical properties is appropriate. It was successful using AC
in the adsorption of phenol and its derivatives [4,10]. Table 3
presents machineries required in setting an AC plant.
Additionally, AC produced from agricultural wastes’ biomass
could also be useful in the adsorption and control of air
contaminants such as in the treatment of industrial gases
emmissions. Still, AC can be used for gas separation,
purification and deodorization serving as a catalyst due to the
possession of high surface area and multiple numbers of micro-
pore. While, for the liquid phase adsorption AC can be used in
many purification processes such as the wastewater treatment,
which happens to be among the most relevant. Other
applications are; purification of drinking water, treatment of
industrial effluents and the groundwater treatment. Adsorption
of pesticides and nitrate from surface water can also be achieved
by the use of AC [10,37,38].
7. Future prospects
Nowadays, complicated challenges regarding environmental
crisis because of pollution from various sources are faced all
over the world, which eventually causes environmental
degradation. Two decades ago, the environmental preservation
measure to counter the aforementioned challenges has been one
of the prioritized topics researchers are working on due to the
large amount of agricultural waste production world over. The
results found will immensely help in recovering contaminated
resources like land and water bodies that surrounds our
environment. Developing environment-friendly technologies
after a careful study and targeting the status of green
environmental policies, directed the interest of researchers in
getting a supportive engineering measures and alternatives such
as electro-sorption using AC. In practice, the adsorption
capacity could directly be associated with the surface properties
(i.e. pore size distribution, pore microstructure, surface area),
accessibility, stability and permeability. In addition, the
selection of appropriate electrodes plays an important role in
electro-sorption assessment of systems particularly with regard
to wastewater treatment [8]. A simple pretreatment (e.g.
electrolysis) can be applied for wastewater and landfill leachate
prior to activated carbon filtration to get high removal
efficiency for various pollutants [36].
Table 3 Machineries required in setting an AC plant [3].
No. Name of machine
1. Hammer mill
2. Jaw crusher
3. Vibrator feeder
4. Elevator
5. Carbonization kiln
6. Soaking tanks
7. Cyclones
8. Rotary kiln with heat recovery unit
9. Coolers
10. Centrifuge
11. Rotary drier
12. Micro pulveriser
13. Sieving machine
14. Pneumatic filling machine
8. Conclusions
Conclusively, it is seen from the findings that, the importance
and advantages of AC cannot be overestimated as it almost
fulfills the needs in every sector that need adsorbent for
purification of liquid, gas and solid matters. Consequently, there
is a great obligation from the authorities to assist (physically
and economically) researchers in finding easy and viable ways
to boost the production of AC at best possible quality. These
efforts will definitely ensure the protection of our environment
that is facing multiple challenges day by day from been
contaminated. It will as well serve as a way of creating job
opportunities for the youth and the citizens of every nation.
Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge the understanding and help in terms
of e-resources given by the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM),
while conducting this review and Kano State Government of
Nigeria for the scholarship award. They also acknowledge the
support provided by UPM, Malaysia (9478700; GP-
IPS/2016/9478700).

Journal of Advanced Civil Engineering Practice and Research, 2(1):7-13, 2016

Tadda et al./ A review on activated carbon: process, application and prospects
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To cite this article: Tadda MA, Ahsan A, Shitu A, ElSergany M, Arunkumar T, Jose B, Razzaque MA, Daud NNN. A
review on activated carbon: process, application and prospects. Journal of Advanced Civil Engineering Practice and
Research 2016;2(1):7-13.

To link this article: http://ababilpub.com/download/jacepr2-1-3/

Journal of Advanced Civil Engineering Practice and Research, 2(1):7-13, 2016

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