DOI: 10.21776/ub.jpacr.2019.008.02.463 J. Pure App. Chem. Res., 2019, 8 (2), 117-125 12 June 2019 Modification of Activated Carbon from Coconut Shell Charcoal with Copper (CuCl 2 /AC, Cu(OH) 2 /AC, CuO/AC) for Adsorption of Paracetamol Contaminant Bambang Arianto, Tutik Setianingsih *, and Barlah Rumhayati 1 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Brawijaya, Jl. Veteran 65145 Malang, Indonesia * Corresponding email: tutiksetia@ub.ac.id Received 2 April 2019; Accepted 12 june 2019 This study provides information about the physicochemical properties and performance of activated carbon combined with copper to remove paracetamol from waste models. The activated carbon (AC) comes from coconut shell charcoal. CuCl2 was used as the copper source which then combined with activated carbon (AC). The AC was obtained by activating the coconut shell charcoal using KOH and 500 C calcination for 10 minutes. Carbon functionalization were done using H2SO4 6M as an oxidizer and temperature of 80 C for 3 hours. The impregnation of activated carbon with CuCl2 produces CuCl2/AC, then the CuCl2/AC was reacted with NaOH 5M to form precipitation of Cu(OH)2/AC. CuO/AC composite was finally produced by calcining the Cu(OH)2/AC to 950 C for 5 minute. The composite was characterized by FTIR, SEM-EDX, XRF and X-ray diffraction. The adsorption of paracetamol with CuO/AC composite gave the best results with 95.56% efficiency. Keywords: CuCl2/AC composite, Cu(OH)2/AC, CuO/AC, adsorption. INTRODUCTION Pharmaceutical industry is one of source of the increasing pharmaceutical waste concentration in aquatic ecosystems. Pollution made from the pharmaceutical waste causes metabolic disorders in organisms in the ecosystem, such as accumulation in body tissues, damage to the reproductive system, inhibition of cell growth, changes in organism's behaviour and decrease in water quality [1]. The pharmaceutical industry produces liquid waste from the production process, the cleaning of equipment, and laboratory activities. The liquid waste is toxic and contains several dissolved organic and inorganic compounds [2]. One of the organic wastes produced from the pharmaceutical industry is paracetamol waste. Paracetamol, Figure 1, is a compound known to reduce fever and pain. However, in high concentration (4000 mg/L for adults), it can have a negative impact on health and may cause death [3]. Various ways can be used to overcome water pollution by paracetamol waste, namely by means of oxidation, ozonation, perozonation, and photocatalysis [3]. The adsorption method can also be applied. The adsorption method has the potential as one of the effective methods because it is more affordable than some other methods, efficient, and easy to apply [4]. Adsorption is the process by which atoms, ions or molecules from substances such as gases, The journal homepage www.jpacr.ub.ac.id p-ISSN : 2302 – 4690 | e-ISSN : 2541 – 0733 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) ABSTRACT