Biochar derived from oil palm trunk as a potential precursor in the production of high-performance activated carbon

The relationship between physicochemical and morphology properties of biochar derived from oil palm trunk (BOPT) as a potential candidate in the production of high-performance activated carbon was intensively investigated. The biochar was prepared using various pyrolysis temperature and pyrolysis time to study the relationship of both parameters on the production of quality biochar. The proximate and ultimate analyses showed that the biochar with the highest fixed C and C contents can be acquired when the oil palm trunk was pyrolyzed at 450 degrees C for 3 h. The field emission scanning electron microscope images display the formation of pores in the biochar, whereas thermogravimetry analysis reveals the thermal stability of the biochar where both analyses are seemed to be in an agreement with other analyses and regarded the biochar as a potential candidate to be served as a promising precursor with a well-developed carbon framework. Overall, the BOPT-450-3 was found to exhibit 75.84% of C, 64.34% of fixed C, a ratio of H/C of 0.035, and 0.2733 m(2)/g (S-BET). This study demonstrated that BOPT-450-3 is a good-quality biochar that has great attributes to be selected as a promising AC precursor for future directions.