Thermally activated carbon from bovine bone: Optimization of synthesis conditions by response surface methodology

The present study reports the application of response surface methodology (RSM) for optimization of the synthesis of activated carbon from bovine bone (ACB(op)). The influence of factors; pyrolysis temperature, pyrolysis time and N-2 flow, were investigated on the responses of BET surface area and mesopore volume. Variance analysis (ANOVA) of the obtained quadratic model showed that the significant factors for BET surface area were; temperature and N-2 flow, and for mesopore volume were; temperature and time. The optimal conditions found from the RSM were; temperature of 450 degrees C, time of 110 min and N-2 flow of 100 cm(3) g(-1), resulting in ACB(op) with BET surface area (S-BET) of 128 m(2) g(-1), mesopore volume (V-m) of 0.331 cm(3) g(-1), and average pore diameter (D-p) of 10.32 nm. FT-IR spectrum of ACB(op) showed functional groups belong to its inorganic and organic portions. The high thermal stability of the ACB(op) was observed from TG analyses. XRD analyses indicated the crystal structure of hydroxyapatite in the materials, and SEM micrographs showed a significant change in morphological characteristics of ACB(op), when compared to the bovine bone (BOV). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.