Project Report on Activated Carbon From Rice Husk And Coconut Shell/Saw Dust [EIRI- 0661]

Carbon is probably the most widely distributed element in nature. It occurs in two allotropic crystalline forms, viz graphite (hexagonal system) and diamond (isomeric system), the former is soft and black while diamond is hard and transparent. Charcoal, coke and carbon black, classified as emorphous carbon; are considered  by some to represent a  third allotropic form. They are said to be composed of very minute crystals of  graphite  by others. Carbon is an essential constituent of all vegetable and animal matter in which  it  occurs  in  combination  with hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and other elements in immense variety of  compounds. In  combination  with hydrogen it occurs as hydrocarbons in petroleum. It is also found in carbon dioxide in air (0.03% as sodium bicarbonate in sea water, and as calcium and magnesium  carbonate in sedimentary rocks such as chalk  and dolomite. Many carbons of industrial value are prepared from coal and  from  organic  vegetable and animal matter. The resulting amorphous  products include charcoal, coke and  protroleum  coke. Several  carbon products are prepared and used in the  electrical and electro-chemical industry. Carbon  13,  a  stable  isotope of carbon  (At wt 13) has recently come into prominence as a  tracer element employed in the study of  biological process. It  is obtained  from carbon compounds by concentrating  the minute quantity of the heavier isotope, normally present in them, by thermal  diffusion  methods. Carbon 14 or Radioactive carbon, a product of  the uranium atomic pile, is used also as a  tracer element in the study of plant  and animal metabolism.