ACTIVATION OF CHARCOAL FROM SENGON WOOD POWDER

WITH VARIATION OF H3PO4 CONCENTRATIONS AND ITS

APPLICATION AS LEAD ADSORBANT

Willdan Dwipa Wardana, Yudhi Utomo M.Si

Departemen Kimia, Fakultas Matematika dan Ilmu Pengetahuan
Alam, Universitas NegeriMalang, Jl. Semarang No. 5 Malang
65154, Indonesia

Abstract. This study aims to utilize silk tree wood sawdust as a basic ingredient of
activated charcoal which is used as an adsorbent to reduce lead levels. The research
began with the manufacture of activated charcoal from silk tree wood sawdust with
H3PO4 activator and then carried out the characterization of activated carbon
(moisture content, ash content, and iodine absorption). Furthermore, the application
of activated charcoal to reduce lead with various variations in the concentration of
H3PO4 activator then measured the level of lead reduction and data processing. The
results obtained were % water content,% ash content, and iodine absorption from
activated carbon and then compared with the quality requirements of activated
carbon SNI 06-3730-1995 and a decrease in lead content. The adsorption ability of
activated carbon tends to increase according to the increase in the concentration of
H3PO4, this is because the higher the activator concentration, the stronger the effect
of the activator binds the remaining carbonized tar compounds to get out through
the micro pores of activated carbon. In addition, the higher the concentration of
H3PO4 also results in a mesoporous structure that has a large surface area and pore
volume and forms many pores.
Keywords: activated carbon, silk tree, lead