ADSORPTION OF POLLUTANTS FROM EXHAUST GAS USING WASTE MATERIAL DERIVED ACTIVATED CARBON

Abstract

The emission of gas from motor vehicle engine causes pollution to the environment. The emission of motor vehicle contains pollutants such as hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of sulfur (SO2), carbon (CO2) and nitrogen (NOx), particulates, etc. In the present work, we prepared an activated carbon from Banana peel. The activated carbon was prepared by carbonizing banana peel in furnace. The resulted carbon was activated by chemical activation with zinc chloride (ZnCl2) and physical activation by microwave. In this study, an attempt has been made to reduce pollutants from exhaust gases using activated carbon (via adsorption process). The activated carbon prepared was placed in an adsorbent tube inside the muffler and the emissions were tested by gas analyzer .The results showed that the activated carbon induced by microwave and zinc chloride (ZnCl2) activation gave the best result. The adsorption or removal efficiency of gas CO reached approximately 96.80 % vol.

Keywords: Exhaust gas, Banana peel, Activated carbon, microwave induction, ZnCl2, Removal of CO