Porous carbons have been prepared from different parts of banana stems using two different routes, viz., by pyrolysing the mass at different temperatures as well as by treating the dried mass with chemicals followed by pyrolysis. The pyrolysis behaviour of all these materials has been studied up to 1000℃. Samples treated with acids exhibit more increase in surface area as compared to those treated with alkalies or salts. Analysis of BET surface area shows that the carbon prepared at low temperature shows mixed porosity, i.e., micro and mesopores. Samples heated to high temperature above 700℃ show decrease in macroporosity and increase in microporosity. Liquid adsorption studies have been made using methylene blue and heavy oil. The activated carbons so prepared exhibit higher oil adsorption mainly in the macro and mesopores.
Partial mesophase (PM) pitch precursor was prepared from fluidized catalytic cracking-decant oils (FCC-DO) by chemical reaction in the presence of Br2. The PM pitch heated-treatment at 420℃ for 9 h exhibited the softening point of 297℃ with 23% yield, and 55% anisotropic content. The PM pitch precursor was melt-spun through circular nozzle by pressurized N2, stabilized at 310℃, carbonized at 700℃, 1000℃, and 1200℃. The enough stabilization introduced 16.4% of the oxygen approximately. The stacking height (Lc002) and interlayer spacing (d002) of the as-spun fibers were 4.58 nm and 3.45a and the value became minimum and maximum at 700℃ respectively in the carbonization procedure. The tensile strength increased with an increase in the heat treatment temperature exhibiting highest value of 750 MPa at 1200℃ carbonization.
In this work, the activated carbons (ACs) with high micropores were synthesized from the polystyrene (PS) with KOH as activating agent. And the influence of activation temperature on porosity of the ACs studied was investigated. The porous structures of ACs were characterized by nitrogen adsorption at 77K using BET and D-R equations, and MP and BJH methods. The weight loss behaviors of the samples impregnated with KOH were also monitored using thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). As a result, it was found that the samples could be successfully converted into ACs with well-developed micropores. From the results of pore size analysis, it was confirmed that elevated activation temperature does lead to the formation and deepening of microstructures without significant change in mesostructures. A thermogravimetric study showed that KOH could suppress the thermal decomposition of the sample, resulting in the increase of carbon yields.
For the adsorption of ammonia, activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were subjected to sulfuric acid treatment in order to modify the surface functional groups. The surface acid and base value of ACFs were measured using titration and FT-IR spectrometry. SEM was used to investigate the surface morphology. Acid treatments by H3PO4, H2SO4, and HNO3 were performed to increase the adsorption capacity of NH3. As a result, Cellulose-based ACF has high adsorption capacity for ammonia. The ammonia removal efficiency of ACF was the maximum which was treated by 15 wt% sulfuric acid at 100℃ for 60 min. The average pore diameter little increased from 19a to 20.8a and the specific surface area of ACF considerably decreased and acid values increased by 15 wt% sulfuric acid treatment. Ammonia reacted with sulfonyl radicals. After adsorption of ammonia, white material was grown on the surface of ACF through the adsorption of ammonia and it was determined to ammonium sulfate.
The advanced method for CO2capture is currently one of the most important environmental issues in worldwide and it is therefore necessary to have available technologies, which minimize the discharge of CO2 including Carbon-14 from nuclear facilities into the atmosphere. A key aspect of this work is to provide the technically principal data required to improve a CO2 removal system for the utilization of regenerative sorbent use, specifically include suggestions regarding its modified column design (parallel dual-bed assembly), stop-restart operation and the economic feasibility of sorbent use. The removal performance of soda lime and the effects of relative humidity (RH) and packing bed-depth (BD) on CO2 removal were investigated. In a single-bed, it revealed that the utilization of soda lime for CO2 removal at line velocity of 13 cm/sec and bed depth of 12 cm increased with the increased relative humidity up to 85%. However, in the parallel dual-bed assembly applied with the stop-restart operation, a maximum utilization rate of soda lime for CO2 removal was obtained even at 55% of RH and 8 cm of BD, specifically the utilization rate of soda lime by using this CO2 removal assembly was about two-fold superior to that in a single-bed.