Porosity Evolution of Activated Carbon Fiber Prepared from Liquefied Wood. Part I: Water Steam Activation at 650 to 800 °C

• Main Authors: Zhi Jin, Guangjie Zhao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: North Carolina State University 2014-03-01
• Series: BioResources
• Subjects: Liquefied wood-based activated carbon fibers; Porosity evolution; Activation temperature; Activation time
• Online Access: http://ojs.cnr.ncsu.edu/index.php/BioRes/article/view/BioRes_09_2_2237_Jin_Porosity_Evolution_Carbon_Fiber
• ISSN: 1930-2126; 1930-2126

Activated carbon fiber is known as an excellent adsorbent material due to its well-developed pore structure. In this work, the porosity evolution of activated carbon fiber prepared from phenol liquefied wood with water steam activation at 650 to 800 °C for 20 to 260 min was examined by physical adsorption of N2 at -196 °C. By the series of activation processes, the specific surface area and pore volume were increased with the increase of activation time, most significantly by activation at 750 °C for 20 to 180 min and by activation at 800 °C for 20 to 260 min. The microporosity was gently and progressively developed with increasing activation time at 650 to 700 °C, while it was sharply developed at the early stage of activations at 750 to 800 °C, and then tended to almost stabilize. The mesoporosity was well developed only by activation at 800 °C for longer than 100 min. The pore size distributions were principally ultramicropores (0.5 - 0.7 nm) during activations at 650 to 700 °C. By activations at 750 to 800 °C, the supermicropores (0.7 to 2.0 nm) as well as mesopores (2 to 4 nm) became progressively more important as the activation time was increased.