Production and Characterization of Activated Carbon from Agricultural Waste (Rice-husk and Corn-cob)

In Nigeria, a lot of material is wasted during the processing of Rice and Corn in terms of the by-products. This study was therefore undertaken to explore the possibility of utilizing rice-husk and corncob in production of activated carbon by steam oxidation and chemical activation processes. The activated carbon produced were characterized by determining their surface area, pore volume, ash content, bulk density, fixed carbon content, carbon yield and porosity. Result showed that steam oxidation process as compared with chemical activation process produced the best activated carbon with corncob carbon being the best in terms of surface area, pore volume and better adsorption capacity. Also, corncob carbon produced from steam oxidation proved to be effective adsorbent in a test conducted with phosphate containing water.