A comparative study of carbon nanofiber (CNF) and activated carbon based on coconut shell for ammonia (NH3) adsorption performance

Currently, the applications of nanomaterials have been sparsely addressed regarding adsorption and the separation of gases. Concerning their applications in the field of gas adsorption, high specific surface area and stability in the chemical reaction are important concerns for nanomaterials. This paper focuses on the system hybridization of activated carbon and carbon nanofibers (CNF) produced from coconut shells, which is used for ammonia adsorption process. The purpose of this research is to fabricate activated carbon and CNF based on coconut shell, and then apply them for the adsorption of ammonia to eliminate its odor. After that, this study analyzed the adsorption speed rate from the inlet system. Ammonia adsorption in this work was conducted using the batch adsorption method and measured using the adsorption speed rate supported by the TGS826 sensor. Activated carbon and CNT were also characterized in terms of their surface morphological tests using scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) to determine the particle size, morphological form, and the functional groups of material. The results indicated that activated carbon has a better performance compared to CNF regarding its ammonia adsorption capability due to the SEM and FTIR result test. Moreover, particle size has an impact on the adsorption process.