The use of low cost and ecofriendly adsorbent has been investigated as an alternative to the current expensive method of removing dyes from wastewater. Cow dung cakes were collected from the nearby village which was burnt in a muffle furnace at 500℃ to obtain the required ash. This paper deals with the removal of Reactive Blue 221, Acidoll Yellow 2GNL and Olive BGL which are mainly used in textile industry, from aqueous solution by cow dung ash without any pretreatment. The adsorption was achieved under different pH, adsorbate concentration and the applicability of Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were examined.
Carbon/TiO2 composites were prepared by CCl4 solvent mixing method with different mixing ratios. Since the carbon layers derived from pitch on the TiO2 particles were porous, the Carbon/TiO2 composite series showed a good adsorptivity and photo decomposition activity. The BET surface area for the carbon layer in the sample increases to increasing with pitch contents. The SEM results present to the characterization of porous texture on the Carbon/TiO2 composite and pitch distributions on the surfaces for all the materials used. From XRD data, a weak and broad carbon peak of graphene with pristine anatase peaks were observed in the X-ray diffraction patterns for the Carbon/TiO2. The EDX spectra show the presence of C, O and S with strong Ti peaks. Most of these samples are richer in carbon and major Ti metal than any other elements. Finally, the excellent photocatalytic activity of Carbon/TiO2 with slope relationship between relative concentration (C/C0) of MB and t could be attributed to the homogeneous coated pitch on the external surface by CCl4 solvent method.
Molecular sieving carbon (MSC) for separating O2-N2 and CO2-CH4 has been prepared through chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of methane and benzene on activated carbon spheres (ACS) derived from polystyrene sulfonate beads. The validity of the material for assessment of molecular sieving behavior for O2-N2 and CO2-CH4 pair of gases was assessed by the kinetic adsorption of the corresponding gases at 25℃. It was observed that methane cracking on ACS lead to deposition of carbon mostly in whole length of pores rather than in pore entrance, resulting in a reduction in adsorption capacity. MSC showing good selectivity for CO2-CH4 and O2-N2 separation was obtained through benzene cracking on ACS with benzene entrantment of 0.40×10-4 g/ml at cracking temperature of 725℃ for a period of 90 minutes resulting in a selectivity of 3.31:1.00 for O2-N2 and 8.00:1.00 for CO2-CH4 pair of gases respectively.
Microporous carbons with narrow pore size distribution have been successfully synthesized by using hydrolyzed and calcined silica as templates and phenol formaldehyde (pf) resin as carbon precursor. Phenol formaldehyde-silica micro composites were prepared by solution route. Subsesequently, silica templates were removed by HF leaching. Resulting carbons were steam activated. The porous carbons were characterized by nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherm, SEM, FTIR analysis, iodine adsorption, thermogravimetry analysis, etc. Adsorption isotherms show that the porous carbon prepared from calcined silica as templates are microporous with 88% pores of size <2 nm porosity and are of type I isotherm, while porous carbon prepared by using hydrolyzed silica are microporous with 89% microporosity, shows hysteresis loop at high relative pressure indicating the presence of some mesoporosity in samples. The microporosity in porous carbon materials has a bearing on the nature of silica templates used for pore formation.
The carbon brake discs were manufactured by densification the carbon fiber preform using PG-CVI technology with Propene as a carbon precursor gas and Nitrogen as a carrier gas. The densities of carbon brake discs were tested at different densification time. The results indicate that the densification rate is more rapid before 100 hrs than after 200 hrs. The CTscanning image and the SEM technology were used to observe the inner subtle structure. CT-images show the density distribution in the carbon brake disc clearly. The carbon brake disk made by PG-CVI is not very uniform. There is a density gradient in the bulk. The high-density part in the carbon brake is really located in the friction surface, especially in the part of inner circle. This density distribution is most suitable for the stator disc.
Oxidized PAN (OXI-PAN) fibers were used for the precursors of activated carbon fiber in study. How drying temperature affected the properties of carbon fibers on activating process of carbon fibers was investigated. The specific surface areas of activated carbon fibers have been determined on a series of chemically activated carbons with KOH and NaOH. The experimental data showed variations in specific surface area, iodine and silver adsorptions by the activated carbon fibers. The amount of iodine adsorption increases with increasing specific surface areas in both activation methods. This was because the ionic radius of iodine was smaller than the interior micropore size of activated carbon fibers. Silver adsorbed well in NaOH activated carbon fibers rather than KOH activated carbon fibers in this study.
Carbon nanofiber (CNF) grown catalytically was chemically activated with KOH to attain structural change of CNF. The structural changes of CNF through KOH activation were investigated by using BET and SEM. From the results of BET, it was found that KOH activation was effective to develop particular sizes of pores on the CNF surface, increasing the surface area of CNF. Activated CNF was applied as an anode catalyst support of fuel cell. The effects of different activation conditions including the activation temperature and the activation time on the specific surface area of the CNF activated with KOH were investigated to obtain appropriate structure as a catalyst support. The 60 wt% Pt-Ru catalyst prepared was observed by using TEM and XRD.
The influences of various carbonization temperatures on electrical resistivity and morphologies of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based nanofiber webs were studied. The diameter size distribution and morphologies of the nanofiber webs were observed by a scanning electron microscope. The electrical resistivity behaviors of the webs were evaluated by a volume resistivity tester. From the results, the volume resistivity of the carbon webs was ranged from 5.1×10-1 Ω·cm to 3.0×10-2 Ω·cm, and the average diameter of the fiber webs was varied in the range of 310 to 160 nm with increasing the carbonization temperature. These results could be explained that the graphitic region of carbon webs was formed after carbonization at high temperatures. And the amorphous structure of polymeric fiber webs was significantly changed to the graphitic crystalline, resulting in shrinking the size of fiber diameters.