PEMBUATAN DAN KARAKTERISASI SIFAT FISIS ELEKTRODA KARBON DARI BUNGA RUMPUT GAJAH DITINJAU DARI PERBEDAAN UKURAN PARTIKEL

Abstract

Preparation and characterization of physical properties of carbon electrode from flower of elephant grass has been analyzed with variations in particle size. Production  of carbon electrodes was begun with pre-carbonization,  grinding with hard grinder,  grinding with ball milling and followed by sieving process. Variations in particle size selected of <38 µm milling  continued during 20 hours, <38 µm (SB), and 39-52 µm (SC). All of the sample have been activated by chemical activating agent with NaOH at a  concentration of 0,4 M. Carbonization process was performed  at temperatures of 600^ËšC in the gas environment N₂ and followed by physical activation process by using a  CO₂ gas at a temperature of 850^ËšC. Physical parameters such as mass, diameter and thickness of activated carbon electrodes was collected at a condition (i) before carbonization, (ii) after carbonization and (iii) after physical activation to found the density characteristic. The results of density data showed that the sample SA of  <38 µm has a density value of 1,103 g/ cm³ , (ii) 0,869 g/cm³,  (iii) 0,800 g/cm³, SB (i) 1,083 g/ cm³, (ii) 0,816 g/cm³, (iii) 0,728 g/cm³ and SC (i) 1,072 g/ cm³, (ii) 0,777  g/ cm³ and (iii) 0,599 g/ cm³, respectively. As a  conclution,  the particle size was varies inversely with the density. As an addition, the crystallographic analysis showed that the particle size is inversely proportional to the Lc  value.

Keywords: particle size, physical characteristic, activated carbon, flower of elephant grass.