Tobacco is one of the leading commodities in Jember Regency, East Java. So far, tobacco stem waste has not been widely used by the community. Tobacco sticks are usually just thrown away or buried in the ground. Tobichan created a new innovation where tobacco stem waste is converted into modified biochar through ion exchange of Fe compounds to obtain biochar with high nitrate absorption capacity.

Modifikasi Biochar dari Limbah Batang Tembakau Untuk Meningkatkan Kapasitas Adsorpsi Nitrat Dalam Air was developed by the PKM-RE team, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Jember, often referred to as TOBICHAN’s Team. TOBICHAN’s team consists of 5 students from the UNEJ Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, namely Inggrit Ayuningtyas, Sultan Adil Lanang Sejati, Desi Fitrianingsih Nst., Ifa Inayatul Fauziah, and Fatma Astri Aini, accompanied by a lecturer from the Chemistry Department, FMIPA UNEJ, namely Dr. Bambang Piluharto, S.Si., M.Si.

Biochar is a process of transforming biomass into active carbon with a porous structure obtained from a pyrolysis process or combustion without oxygen. Making modified biochar consists of several stages. Continue reading →