Comparative study of the physiochemical and structural properties of brown and green coconut fibre as low-cost adsorbents

Abstract

A comparative analysis of some physiochemical and structural parameters of brown (mature) and green (immature) coconut fibre as adsorbents was studied. The physiochemical and structural properties evaluated were surface area, moisture content, pH, bulk density, pore volume, porosity, ash content, tortuocity and metal ions present. The results obtained from the analysis for brown coconut coir fibre activated carbon were surface area(55.85cm2/g), bulk density(0.44ml/g), pore volume(0.42g/ml),porosity(0.96) etc while that of green coconut coir fibre activated carbon were surface area(28.88cm2/g), bulk density(0.3ml/g), pore volume(0.27g/ml),porosity(0.904) etc. The results clearly showed that mature coconut coir fibre activated carbon has larger surface area, pore volume and porosity than the immature coconut coir fibre activated carbon. This shows that mature coconut coir fibre based activated carbon has a better adsorbing capacity than immature coconut coir fibre activated carbon.

Keywords : Adsorbent, activated carbon, coconut coir fibre, carbonization