Simultaneous adsorption of motorcycle emissions through bamboo-activated carbon

The use of fossil fuels in motorcycles causes a rise in the concentration of emissions in the atmosphere. Adsorption using activated carbon is a method that can be applied to reduce emissions. This paper concerns the development of bamboo-activated carbons that are physically activated under different nitrogen flow rates (200, 350, and 500 cm³/min) and applied to the capture of motorcycle emissions (CO2, CO, and HC). An SEM and a Quantachrome Nova machine were applied to characterise the activated carbons. The emission of the motorcycle was measured using a Capalec multi-gas analyser. The results showed that activated carbon produced with a 350 cm³/min nitrogen flow yielded the best characteristics and the highest adsorption capability of the motorcycle emissions. With a surface area of 223.600 m²/g and a pore volume of 0.156 cm³/g, this activated carbon has adsorption efficiencies of 100%, 85.71%, and 83.41% for CO2, CO, and HC, respectively.