Kenaf fibers, cellulose-based natural fibers, were used as precursor for preparing kenafbased carbon fibers. The effects of carbonization temperature (700℃ to 1100℃) and chemical pre-treatment (NaOH and NH4Cl) at various concentrations on the thermal change, chemical composition and fiber morphology of kenaf-based carbon fibers were investigated. Remarkable weight loss and longitudinal shrinkage were found to occur during the thermal conversion from kenaf precursor to kenaf-based carbon fiber, depending on the carbonization temperature. It was noted that the alkali pre-treatment of kenaf with NaOH played a role in reducing the weight loss and the longitudinal shrinkage and also in increasing the carbon content of kenaf-based carbon fibers. The number and size of the cells and the fiber diameter were reduced with increasing carbonization temperature. Morphological observations implied that the micrometer-sized cells were combined or fused and then re-organized with the neighboring cells during the carbonization process. By the pre-treatment of kenaf with 10 and 15 wt% NaOH solutions and the subsequent carbonization process, the inner cells completely disappeared through the transverse direction of the kenaf fiber, resulting in the fiber densification. It was noticeable that the alkali pre-treatment of the kenaf fibers prior to carbonization contributed to the forming of kenaf-based carbon fibers.

The commercial activated carbons are typically prepared by activation from coconut shell char or coal char containing lots of inorganic impurities. They also have pore structure and pore size distribution depending on nanostructure of precursor materials. In this study, two types of commercial activated carbons were applied for EDLC electrode by removing impurities with acid treatments, and controlling pore size distribution and contents of functional group with heat treatment. The effect of the surface functional groups on electrochemical performance of the activated carbon electrodes was investigated. The initial gravimetric and volumetric capacitance of coconut based activated carbon electrode which was acid treated by HNO3 and then heat treated at 800℃ were 90 F/g and 42 F/cc respectively showing 94% of charge-discharge efficiency. Such a good electrochemical performance can be possibly applied to the medium capacitance of EDLC.

Activated carbon fibers were prepared from the petroleum isotropic pitch and organometallic compounds. The metals were dispersed uniformly in the ACFs. The specific surface area and pore size distributions of metal containing ACFs were measured. The mesopores of ACFs were developed by Co, Ni, and Mn metals addition, and the catalytic reactivity of ACFs' SOx removal was increased by adding Ni and Pd metals. It was found that the mesopores did not work forthe improvement of catalytic reactivity of ACFs' SOx removal with the blank experiment using the metal removed ACFs.

Catalytic reduction and oxidation of NO over polyacrylonitrile based activated carbon fibers (PAN-ACF) under various conditions were carried out to develop removal process of NO from the flue gas. The effect of temperature, oxygen concentration and the moisture content for the reduction of NO with ammonia as a reducing agent was investigated. The reduction of NO increased with the oxygen concentration, but decreased with the increased temperature. The moisture content in the flue gas affects the reduction of NO as the inhibition of the adsorption of the other components and the reaction on the surface of ACE For the oxidation of NO to NO2 over PAN-ACF without using a reducing gas, it showed the temperature and the oxygen concentration of the flue gas are the important factors for the NO conversion in which the conversion increased with oxygen concentration and decreased with the temperature increase and might be the alternative option for the selective catalytic reduction process.