Activated Carbon from Leather Shaving Waste. Part I: Pyrolysis and Physical Activation

Abstract

Leather industry plays an important role in the world economy.However, the waste generated by this industry can be anenvironmental problem. Pyrolysis can be an alternative forreusing this waste since it generates useful liquid, gas, and solidfractions. In the present study, leather shaving waste wasconverted into activated carbon through pyrolysis. The bio-oilproduced consisted of over 75% of nitrogenated compounds and10% of phenols. H2, CO, CH4 and CO2 were detected in the gasproduced. The solid fraction (char - a carbonaceous material)was subjected to activation process for a porous structuredevelopment. Tests indicated that temperature (700oC and900oC) had a significant effect on the burn-off and on the surfacearea. The high temperature tested (900°C) contributed to thedevelopment of the highest surface area (241.4 m2g-1) and thehighest pore volume in the pore size region of 40 Å.