APPLICATION OF SULFONATED CARBON CATALYST IN THE HYDROLYSIS REACTION WITH MICROWAVEASSISTED

Wood waste is one of the easily accessible and inexpensive biomass sources that can be further converted into the broadly applicable carbon product, especially as catalysis material. The pyrolysis method at 350°C followed by sulfonation under reflux with H2SO4 12N was used to obtain a carbon catalyst from wood waste. The sulfonated carbon catalyst (SC) was analyzed based on Indonesian National Standards (SNI 06-3730-1995), consisting of acidity test via ammonia adsorption, identification of functional group using Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR), and crystallinity evaluation using X-ray Diffractometer (XRD). Afterward, the catalytic activity of SC catalyst was examined in the microwave-assisted hydrolysis reaction with varying weight ratios of catalyst to pulp: 1:1; 1:2; 1:4; 1:6 and 1:8. In addition, the power condition applied during the catalyzed reaction for 3 and 5 minutes was also varied into 200, 400, and 600 W. The result showed that the most optimum catalytic hydrolysis reaction by carbon catalyst, which generated the highest glucose (203.98 ppm), was carried out using a catalyst to pulp ratio of 1:4 at 600 W for 5 minutes. From this work, carbon material exhibited great potential to be developed as a green catalyst and, thus, can be expected to substitute the commonly used acid catalysts in the future.