Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were prepared from cost effective commercial textiles through stabilization, carbonization, and subsequently activation by carbon dioxide. ACFs were characterized for surface area and pore size distribution by physical adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K. ACFs were also examined for various surface characteristics by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and CHNO elemental analyzer. The prepared ACFs exhibited good surface textural properties with well developed micro porous structure. With improvement in physical strength, the commercial textile grade acrylic precursor based ACFs developed in this study may have great utility as cost effective adsorbents in environmental remediation applications.

• Mekala Bikshapathi(Depatment of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur)
• Nishith Verma(Depatment of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur)
• Rohitashaw Kumar Singh(Defence Materials and Stores Research & Development Establishment)
• Harish Chandra Joshi(Defence Materials and Stores Research & Development Establishment)
• Anurag Srivastava(Defence Materials and Stores Research & Development Establishment)