The utilization of activated carbon from Jamblang tree bark to adsorb lead heavy metal ion

Abstract This study aims to determine the characterization of activated carbon from Jamblang tree bark, the adsorption capacity and adsorption efficiency and the type of adsorption isotherm. The type of adsorbents used in this study are those without activation, with physical, chemical, and physical chemical activation. The preparation of adsorbent is initiated with carbonization of Jamblang tree bark at 400 °C for 3 hours, then physically activated by heating at 600 °C for 6 hours, chemically with 0.3 M HCl solution, and heating following with immersion with HCl solution. The adsorption process is performed atseveral adsorption time of 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 minutes and initial adsorbate concentrations of 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 ppm. The performance of prepared activated carbonsis tested on the adsorption of Pb metal ions. Several characterizations are carried out such as using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to evaluate the morphology of activated carbon, Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectrophotometer (FTIR) determines functional groups, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) determines composition and Surface Area Analyzer (SAA) determines the surface area and pore size. The results show that the best adsorption capacity and efficiency are obtained at adsorption process usiang chemical-physically activated adsorbent with an optimum time of 120 minutes and an initial adsorbate concentration of 125 ppm. The achieved adsorption capacity and efficiency capacity are 57.28 mg/gr and 60.45%, respectively. The adsorption process follows the Langmuir isotherm model.