PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SUGARCANE BAGASSE-SEWAGE SLUDGE COMPOSITIONAL ACTIVATED CARBON

Activated carbon prepared using sewage sludge is characterized by a low BET surface area, limiting its industrial application. To solve this problem, sugarcane bagasse can be added into sewage sludge to prepare compositional activated carbon. This study aimed to optimize the preparation of sugarcane bagasse-sewage sludge compositional activated carbon and evaluate its characteristics. Results suggested that the sugarcane bagasse-sewage sludge compositional activated carbon had a maximum BET surface area of 490 m(2) g(-1) when it was prepared using the activation reagent of ZnCl2 at 4 M, maintaining the activation temperature at 500 degrees C, and mixing sewage sludge and sugarcane bagasse in the ratios ranged from 7:3 to 8:2. The maximum adsorption capacity by the compositional activated carbon for cadmium was 75 mg g(-1), indicating that this sugarcane bagasse-sewage sludge material can be a promising sorbent material for cadmium removal. It was concluded that the preparation of activated carbon from sugarcane bagasse and sewage sludge can be an applicable approach to solve the disposal problem of sewage sludge as well as sugarcane bagasse.