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Saudi Arabia is the major date producer in the world. In order to get the maximum production from date tree there is a need to prune the trees on annual basis and is considered as a serious environmental threat. The single step procedure for the synthesis of porous activated carbon (AC) from Saudi date tree fronds using mixture of gases (N2 and CO2) was carried out at different carbonization/activation temperatures staring from 700°C to 1000°C at a ramp rate of 10 degree per minute. Alloy 330 horizontal reactor was used in tube furnace. Flow rate of N2 and CO2 gases were kept at 150 and 50ml/min respectively. Results reveal that at 850oC larger surface area was achieved and can offer higher potential to produce activated carbon of greater adsorption capacity from date fronds waste. The BET surface areas of the activated carbons prepared at 850°C after 30 minutes activation time are 1094 m2/g.

The effects of the reaction vessel pressure on the BET surface area, pore volume and pore size of the synthesis of sliced activated carbons (SAC) at 850°C starting from 0.10 to 0.40 bars were investigated. Other synthetic variables like dwell time, CO2 flow rate and heating ramp rate were kept constant during the whole study. Methodology involves a single step procedure using the mixture of gases (N2 and CO2). During activation flow rate of both gases are kept at 150 and 50ml/min respectively. The BET surface areas of the SAC prepared at 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35 and 0.40 bar after 30 minutes activation time are 666, 745, 895, 1094, 835, 658 and 625 m2/g, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for surface morphology, Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for nano particle size were also carried out that also confirms the same trend.