~ 443 ~ International Journal of Chemical Studies 2018; 6(1): 443-448 P-ISSN: 2349–8528 E-ISSN: 2321–4902 IJCS 2018; 6(1): 443-448 © 2018 IJCS Received: 04-11-2017 Accepted: 05-12-2017 Rosalina Department of Industrial Waste Treatment Polytechnic of AKA Bogor, Bogor, Indonesia Henny Rochaeni Department of Analytical Chemistry Polytechnic of AKA Bogor, Bogor, Indonesia Poppy Sri Lestari Department of Industrial Waste Treatment Polytechnic of AKA Bogor, Bogor, Indonesia Tun Tedja Department of Chemistry, FMIPA- Bogor Agricultural University, Darmaga Bogor, Indonesia Etty Riani Department of MSP, FPIK- Bogor Agricultural University, Darmaga Bogor, Indonesia Sri Sugiarti Department of Chemistry, FMIPA- Bogor Agricultural University, Darmaga Bogor, Indonesia Correspondence Poppy Sri Lestari Department of Industrial Waste Treatment Polytechnic of AKA Bogor, Bogor, Indonesia The influence of phosphoric acid activation of carbon from Bintaro fruit ( Cerbera odollam Gaertn) on the adsorption of chromium in various conditions of pH Rosalina, Henny Rochaeni, Poppy Sri Lestari, Tun Tedja, Etty Riani and Sri Sugiarti Abstract Activated carbon of bintaro fruit (Cerbera odollam Gaertn.) that is planted as a city shade tree comes from a poisonous bintaro mangrove plant. The form of bintaro fruit resembles coconut fibers and contain of lignin and cellulose more than the coconut plant has. Bintaro fruit was chemically activated using H3PO4 (20%, 4%, 60% & 80%) at 650 o C with activation time for 90 minutes. Proximate analyzes include moisture content, ash content, fly ash content, fix carbon content, and iodine absorption. Topography of activated carbon was analyzed by SEM, and functional group analysis was performed with FTIR as well as total chromium used AAS. Adsorption of chromium was carried out under acidic, neutral and alkaline pH conditions. The results showed that the activated carbon of bintaro fruit that was activated with 20% phosphoric acid at an alkaline pH was able to remove the chromium about 66.55%. Keywords: bintaro fruit, activated carbon, phosphoric acid, chromium Introduction The Bintaro tree that is called Pong-pong or Indian suicide tree and has the Latin name Cerbera odollam Gaertn or Cerbera manghas Linn is a non-food plant. Bintaro includes mangrove plants originating from the tropics of Asia, Australia, Madagascar, and the islands of West Pacific Ocean. Bintaro is a drupe fruit (seed fruit) consisting of three layers of epicarp or exocarp (the outer shell of the fruit), mesocarp (middle layer of fiber like coco fiber), and endocarp (seed coated with seed coat or testa). Although it has a beautiful shape, but bintaro fruit cannot be consumed, because it contains substances that are toxic to humans [1] . Bintaro fruit contained about 58.5% lignin and 41.8% of the cellulose that has potential as raw material of activated carbon [2] . The studies of bintaro seeds were focused on the production of diesel oil and generate waste in the form of epicrap and mesocrap layer. One of the ways to manage the waste is to recycle the bintaro fruit waste into an activated carbon to treat heavy metal such as chromium from the process in the laboratory. Material and Method General experimental procedures Locations of bintaro fruit waste were taking place on Kol. Achmad Syam and Destrata streets, District of Bogor Utara, West Java, Indonesia. The chemicals used were concentrated nitric acid, chromium (III) nitrate, phosphoric acid 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% while for pH regulator used 4 N sulfuric acid and NaOH 4 N. The reagents used for proximate analysis of activated carbon were 0.1 N iodine solution, K2Cr2O7 powder, Na2S2O3 0.1 N solution, 1% starch solution, 4 N H2SO4 solution, and 10% KI solution. All chemicals used were of analytical grade. Sample preparation Activated Carbon was made by burning 700 g waste of bintaro fruit for 5 hours at 500 o C and activated with phosphoric acid with concentration variations of 20%, 40%, 60% and 80%. After the activated carbon has been washed and dried, it was heated to the retort at 650 °C for 90 minutes.