Synthesis and characterization of composite of Al2O3/activated carbon from palm oil shell by hydrothermal method

Composite of Al2O3/activated carbon (Al2O3/AC) has been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. Composite of Al2O3/AC was synthesized from activated carbon by mixing with Al2O3 powder in liquid phase using ethanol and treated with hydrothermal at a temperature of 250°C for 3 hours. Comparison study of surface area between activated carbon and composite of Al2O3/AC indicate that surface area increase from 63.6 to 67.87 m2/g. However, XRD analysis shows that there is slight different hkl phase. Characterization using FTIR show that the composite have more oxygen functional groups compared with activated carbon.