Regeneration of Activated Carbon from Bagasse of Sugarcane Grown in China Used for Decolorization of Molasses

Abstract

The activated carbon, produced from sugarcane bagasse in China, has been used for decolorization of synthetic melanoidin. The melanoidin is the pigment in molasses. It is synthesized from glucose, glycine and sodium hydrogencarbonate. The bagasse, as the raw material of activated carbon, was generated from sugar manufactory’s waste. Therefore it is cheap and easy to obtain. This activated carbon has been produced by steam activation of sugarcane bagasse at the temperature of 1073 K. The produced activated carbon has the similar specific area as the commercial coconut activated carbon (878 × 10³ m²/kg). The activated carbon of bagasse in China has the same or more adsorptive capacity of melanoidin as compared with that of activated carbon of bagasse in Thailand and Brazil. Also, as the regeneration cycle increased, the capacity of the micropore decreased and the capacity of mesopore increased. Consequently, the structure of the pore changed. The experiment equation was deduced from the correlation between the regeneration cycle and regeneration yield of activated carbon of bagasse in China.