2026 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 54-59
Annually, large amounts of woody prunings from Prunus mume (Japanese apricot) are generated through orchard management. However, despite their renewable and lignocellulosic nature, they remain underutilized. We used pruned Prunus mume branches as a biomass precursor for the production of activated carbon (AC) by chemical activation with potassium hydroxide (KOH). The effect of the impregnation ratio on the pore structure and surface area of the resulting AC samples was investigated. The best material produced had a high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of 2389.0 m2/g and well-developed microporosity. Phenol was selected as a model pollutant to evaluate the adsorption performance. The best AC sample had a maximum phenol adsorption capacity of 285.9 mg/g, which is approximately 1.7 and 1.2 times higher than that of coal- and coconut shell-based AC samples respectively (171.4 and 232.6 mg/g,). The material achieved adsorption equilibrium within 1 h, indicating superior kinetics. These findings highlight the feasibility of converting fruit tree prunings into high-performance AC.
