Obtención y caracterización física de carbón activado a partir de semillas de Datura stramonium para aplicaciones industriales

Abstract

The purpose of this graduation work was to obtain and characterize activated carbon from Datura stramonium seeds for industrial applications by chemical activation. A physicochemical analysis of the raw material was carried out to determine: moisture, volatile material, ash content, fixed carbon and density. Subsequently, calcination was carried out in a 1.2 L Batch reactor with variation of temperature and time parameters. For the chemical activation process, phosphoric acid was used as activation agent in concentrations of 40 % and 85 %, in addition to the variation of time and temperature. The quality of the activated carbon was determined by measurement through infrared spectrometry analysis and iodine index. As a result of the infrared spectrometry analysis, maximum and minimum signals were obtained, detailing several functional groups that were repeated in each of the eight samples, being the most notable the one corresponding to the P = O bond resulting from the interaction with phosphoric acid. As for the iodine index of each sample, values above 500 mg/g were obtained, showing the capacity to adsorb contaminants. It was determined that through the process of obtaining activated carbon Datura stramonium was effective obtaining a product capable of being applied at industrial level in the pollutant elimination. Considering the above mentioned characteristics, it is recommended to perform activation in basic media and perform other analyses such as the gravimetric ones in the whole process, to better detail the activated carbon as a final product for industrial application.