Adsorption of carbon monoxide and

hydrocarbon components in motor vehicle

exhaust emission using magnesium oxide
loaded on durian peel activated carbon
Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2230, 030021 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0002351
Published Online: 04 May 2020

Yuliusman, Maretha Putri Ayu, Afdhal Hanafi, et al.

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© 2020 Author(s).
 Adsorption of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrocarbon
Components in Motor Vehicle Exhaust Emission using
Magnesium Oxide Loaded on Durian Peel Activated Carbon
Yuliusman1, a), Maretha Putri Ayu1, Afdhal Hanafi1, Azmia Rizka Nafisah1
1
Chemical Engineering Departement, Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok,
Indonesia, 16424
a)
Corresponding author: usman@che.ui.ac.id

Abstract. Vehicles produced harmful gases such as Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Hydrocarbon (HC) and this gas emission
continue to increase every year. In 2018, there was an increase of up to 10% from the previous year. This gas is harmful to
human and the environment. One way to reduce pollution from vehicle emissions is by adsorption. Adsorption is often
used because its large adsorption capacity reaches 95%. Of the several types of adsorbents, the most developed ones are
activated carbon because of its low price and high adsorption ability. The use of commercial activated carbon has begun to
be replaced with activated carbon made from biomass waste because it is cheaper and environmentally friendly. CO and
HC gas molecules can be absorbed properly in activated carbon. To improve the adsorption ability of activated carbon, it
is modified with Magnesium oxide (MgO) with impregnation method. With modifications using activated carbon and MgO
ratio of 70:30, 80:20, and 90:10, the surface area results are 1149.48 m2/g, 890.23 m2/g, and 859.91 m2/g. CO and HC
Adsorption were carried out with inside tube variant of 3 cm, 4 cm, and 5 cm. this inside tube is used to put the adsorbent.
The results showed with increasing the length of the inside tube, the CO adsorption yield increased from 78.68 to 99.14%
and HC to 64.54 87.73%. So the modification of AC with MgO had a significant effect for pollutant gases adsorption.

INTRODUCTION
Air pollution is one of the main concerns in this era. It is defined as the presence of one or more pollutants or
combinations that can cause disruption to human, animal and plant health [1]. Air pollution can occur due to various
natural events and human activities that release emissions of harmful gases. Transportation is the main cause of air
pollution. Incomplete combustion of petrol or diesel fuel will produce gases such as carbon monoxide (CO) and
hydrocarbon (HC). These gases are very dangerous for health because they can cause respiratory problems, irritation,
and absorption of toxins [2].
One of the most widely used methods nowadays is using the adsorption using Activated Carbon (AC). Adsorption
is used to reduce the concentration of dissolved organics because it has a high adsorption capacity. Activated carbon
is proven to have advantages compared to other techniques in terms of flexibility, cost, and easy operation [1]
AC have surface area ranging from 500 m2/g to 3000 m2/g and this associated with functional groups on the pore
surface [3]. The internal pore structure and surface characteristics depend on the raw material used and the preparation
methods. Previous studies have used agricultural (biomass) waste such as banana peels, coffee grounds, coconut shells
[4], pineapple crown [5] and others as raw materials for making activated carbon.
This research utilizes other alternatives, durian peel waste which has abundant availability in Indonesia, almost
500-700 thousand tons every year. Previous research shows that activated carbon made from durian peel has a high
surface area, up to 1000 m2/g [6]. Therefore, activated carbon from durian peel waste is a very potential adsorbent for
CO and HC adsorption.
Modification of activated carbon is carried out to increase the active core of activated carbon. Metals can be used,
such as TiO2, MgO, NaHCO3, Ca(OH)2 for the modification. From previous studies known that TiO2 and MgO are

Recent Progress on: Energy, Communities and Cities

AIP Conf. Proc. 2230, 030021-1–030021-6; https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0002351
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1989-6/$30.00

030021-1
very good adsorbents because they have a high surface area. One study showed the MgO surface area is up to 400
m2/g [7] and the MgO surface area is greater than the surface area produced by TiO2. With this reason, MgO was
chosen as the material for impregnation process.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Activated Carbon Impregnation

The activated carbon was obtained from author’s previous research. The AC from durian peel was modified using
MgO 1 M. In this modification, the ratio between activated carbon and MgO was variated by 70:30, 80:20 and 90:10.
This variation was carried out to obtain optimum conditions for modification of activated carbon using MgO.
Impregnation was done by mixing MgO and activated carbon mechanically through the stirring process until
homogeneous and then left for 1 hour. The MgO impregnated activated carbon then heated at 450 °C for 30 minutes
using a furnace.
Next, AC samples must be rinsed for balancing the pH. The AC is washed with distilled water until it reaches a
neutral pH. After that, the AC is dried at 150 °C using the oven for 1 hour. Then the AC was stored in a desiccator
before it was used for adsorption.
The correlation between iodine number and surface area refers to ASTM D4607-94, where the equation used is
showed in Eq. 1.
IODnumber = (0.6366 × specificsurfacearea) + 174.34 (1)

Adsorption
The adsorption was done with a tube which contains two parts, the inner and outer. The outside tube had 50 cm
length and 3.8 cm in diameter. This tube function was to connect the exhaust muffler to the gas analyzer while the
inner tube uses as storage for activated carbon. The size of the inner tube was varied in length to determine the effect
of AC loading percentage on reducing exhaust gas concentration. Variations made were 3 cm, 4 cm and 5 cm in
diameter 3 cm. There is a seal between the tube to prevent exhaust gas leaking. The configuration of the tube was
described in Fig. 1.
Gas emission testing is carried out on public transportation operating in the Bogor city area. The criteria for the
public transportation tested in this study were produced under 2007 which did not pass the emissions test. Based on
Law No. 22 of 2009 about Road Traffic and Public Transportation, vehicles which were produced under 2007 had
maximum 4.5% CO content and 1200 ppm HC.

Inside tube

Exhaust
Outside tube
pipe

Seal

FIGURE 1. Adsorption Tube

The method for testing exhaust emissions of gasoline-fueled vehicles is carried out in the idle condition of the
vehicle. Idle conditions are conditions in which a vehicle engine with a fuel control system (e.g., choke and
accelerator) and other vehicle accessories that can affect rotation are not operated. The test is done by measuring the
exhaust gas of CO and HC vehicles using a PEM 9004 gas analyzer.
The engine was accelerated to 3,100 rpm and lasted for 60 seconds and then returned to idle. Then measured the
exhaust gas by inserting the adsorption tube into the exhaust pipe with a depth of 30 cm. The process was done within
20 seconds. The CO and HC gas concentration data in percentage (%) and ppm units respectively were collected. The

030021-2
number of gas emissions from vehicles could be calculated based on the initial gas emission difference with the final
gas concentration. The adsorption percentage calculated using Eq. 2.
G0 − Gn
% Adsorption = × 100% (2)
G0

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Characterization of Activated Carbon

The characterization of activated carbon has so many methods. It this study, the characterization was done using
Iodine Number and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy).

Iodine Number
The surface area of activated carbon is one of the most important parameters because it can affect the adsorption
process. Activated carbon as good adsorbent if it has a high surface area and is generally in the range of 300 - 3000
m2/gram. Determination of surface area with an iodine number method was done by calculating the amount of
activated carbon adsorbed by iodine (mg iodine/gram of activated carbon). Surface area calculation with iodine
number method is a method where the quality of AC can be determined by its iodine absorptivity. AC with high
capability of iodine absorption inidicates more surface area [8].
Using the Eq.1, the surface area of MgO impregnated AC could be calculated. From the Fig. 2, it can be seen that
the modified activated carbon produced a different surface area, depending on the impregnation ratio. These surface
area numbers indicate that the AC have different surface area characteristics.

1400

1200
Surface area (m2/g)

1000

800

600

400

200

0
AC : MgO Ratio

70:30 80:20 90:10

FIGURE 2. Surface area of MgO impregnated activated carbon

The surface area of activated carbon modified by MgO with a ratio of 70:30, 80:20 and 90:10 respectively is
1149.48 m2/g, 890.23 m2/g and 859.91 m2/g. Modified activated carbon has a clear and almost uniform pore structure.
The presence of MgO could cause carbon porosity to decrease so the distance between the pores would be greater as
a result of the pore expansion of the activated carbon [9]. As a result, the number of pores produced would increase
and cause the surface area to increase.

030021-3
 SEM Characterization
Characterization of activated carbon was carried out using SEM to see the pattern or surface structure of the
adsorbent. The characterization of SEM in the study was conducted to determine the pore conditions formed from the
modified activated carbon using MgO. According to IUPAC, there are three classification of pores such as micropores
(< 0.2 nm), mesopores (1 - 25 nm), and macropores (>50 nm) [3].
Fig. 3 showed the result of the AC characterization that had been modified using MgO at different ratios. From the
figure below, we could see the pores of activated carbon which formed. The surface characterization of AC has an
important role in adsorption process [5].

(a) (b)

(c)
FIGURE 3. SEM characterization of MgO modified AC, (a) 70:30 ratio, (b) 80:20 ratio, (c) 90:10 ratio.

The surface of the adsorbent is clearly formed when AC is modified using MgO. Also, the porous of activated
carbon was increasing with the domination of micropore structure. MgO reacted with AC when it was heated in the
furnace and then the oxidation occurred. Magnesium moved along the AC surface and tied with impurities which
present on the AC surface [8]. The interaction between magnesium and AC makes the structure of AC changed. As a
result, the formation of new pores were formed and the original pore enlarged.

Effect of Adsorption Tube Length

This test aimed to determine the effect of the length of the adsorption tube on CO and HC gas emissions adsorption
ability on public transport. The activated carbon used were the modified ones. The initial concentration of CO
depended on public transportation used. In this study, public transport used was public transport under 2007 production
and did not pass the emissions test.

030021-4
 Based on the graph shown in Fig. 4, it can be seen that the longer the adsorption tube, the higher the percent
adsorption of CO and HC. This happened because the adsorption area is longer. The adsorption area is the area where
contact occurs between activated carbon and the exhaust gases. The wider the area of adsorption, the greater the
amount of pollutant gas adsorbed by activated carbon [9]. So, the concentration of CO and HC will decrease due to
the contact area.
120 87.73
65.54 72.55
99.14 81.61
100 88.87 92.47 65.38
86.68
60.70 81.55
76.68 CO (KA MgO
80 55.44
65.89 54.69
% Adsorption

62.99 64.54 70:30)

59.08 HC (KA MgO
60 70:30)
CO (KA MgO
40 80:20)
HC (KA MgO
80:20)
20 CO (KA MgO
90:10)
0
3 4 5
Tube lenght (cm)

FIGURE 4. Tube lenght effect on adsorption percentage

In addition, the mass of activated would increase with a longer tube and cause an increasing amount of active core
of AC. The adsorption capacity was proportional to the mass of AC, so the adsorbent molecules that can absorb gases
would increase too [9]. Therefore, the length variation in the adsorption tube has an effect on decreasing CO and HC
concentrations.
The AC:MgO ratio of 70:30 with the 5 cm tube length had the best adsorption ability of the other variables in this
study. This modified AC could reduce CO concentration by 99.14% and HC 87.73%. This could happen because the
surface area obtained is greater than the other activated carbon. It was caused due to the high amount of active surface
in MgO which resulted the increase of overall surface area. The number of adsorbate molecules adsorbed also
increases with increasing surface area [10]
From Fig. 4, it could be seen that the percentage of adsorption for CO gas was greater than the HC gas percentage.
This was due to variations in the adsorption pattern between CO and HC by the activated carbon. The AC adsorption
pattern is influenced by several factors including the selectivity (affinity) of AC molecules in absorbing pollutant
molecules, temperature, pressure and the size of gas molecules [9]. The temperature factor and the size of the gas
molecule are very influential in the exhaust gas adsorption testing of public transportation. Besides molecular size,
temperature also plays an important role in CO and HC gas adsorption. The exhaust pipe temperature where the
adsorption process occurs is around 25-37 °C. The change of temperature would affect the adsorption ability of
activated carbon [9-10]. HC has a more complex molecular structure than CO. Thus, HC would have a larger molecular
size than CO. So that HC adsorption by AC would be smaller than CO adsorption by AC. From this study, it was
proved that the amount of CO adsorbed by AC was greater than the HC component.

CONCLUSION
Activated carbon from durian peel was modified using MgO with aim to increase its quality and adsorption ability.
The MgO impregnated activated carbon were characterized and evaluated for CO and HC exhaust gases emission.
The pore structure in AC formed during physical and chemical activation and got better with modifying process. The
highly porous carbons which modified with a 70:30 MgO: AC ratio and put in 5 cm tube lenght showed the best gas
adsorption performance. As much as 99.14% CO and 87.73% HC could be adsorbed by AC. The study showed that
AC made from durian peel became a potential adsorbents and can be used for other purpose too. Also the activated
carbon modification using MgO was effective to increase the adsorption yield.

030021-5
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study was supported by University of Indonesia Research Grant 2019, PIT 9 (NKB-
0086/UN2.R3.1/HKP.05.00/2019). Also, authors wishing to acknowledege assistance and encouragement from
collegues and staffs.

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