Palm oil mill effluent (POME) has become critical issue among the oil palm industries due to its high organic contents and other contaminants which results in dark colour, turbid and bad smell. POME that is not treated effectively will result in significant wastewater issues as it disposes to the environment. Adsorption is a promising technique to purify the wastewater and has a wide variety of potential adsorbents. It works by adhering the pollutants on the high porous of activated carbon. Therefore, activated carbon has been widely used due to the effectiveness to adsorb pollutants and easy to produce. Previous studies proved that adsorption using activated carbon has been an effective method for the treatment of POME. This paper presents the utilization of activated carbon from agricultural biomass wastes for POME treatment. The materials are renewable, low-cost and viable as precursors of the activated carbon. The adsorption efficiencies and mechanisms of the activated carbon are discussed and summarized for easy reference. Development of methods for synthesis may become great challenges in the future, as well as the regeneration of activated carbon.
Activated carbon is known as one of the effective adsorbents in carbon dioxide adsorption, which is mainly attributed to its highly porous structure. Utilizing biowaste as the precursor for the activated carbon synthesis is considered as an attractive approach due to the biowaste being an inexpensive, renewable, abundant, and environmental-friendly material. This review article covers the various biowaste precursors used for activated carbon synthesis along with the comparison of its activating methods (which are physical and chemical activation). The relation between the activation methods and carbon dioxide adsorption performance is elucidated for better understanding. The functionalization of the biowaste-based activated carbon with basic nitrogen functionalizing agent as well as the challenges in the application of these adsorbents in carbon dioxide adsorption are also discussed.
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