Today, the modification of carbon foam for high performance remains a major issue in the environment and energy industries. One promising way to solve this problem is the optimization of the pore structure for desired properties as well as for efficient performance. In this study, using a sol-gel process followed by carbonization in an inert atmosphere, hollow spherical carbon foam was prepared using resorcinol and formaldehyde precursors catalyzed by 4-aminobenzoic acid; the effect of carbonization temperature and re-immersion treatment on the pore structure and characteristics of the hollow spherical carbon foam was investigated. As the carbonization temperature increased, the porosity and average pore diameter were found to decrease but the compression strength and electrical conductivity dramatically increased in the temperature range of this study (700˚C to 850˚C). The significant differences of X-ray diffraction patterns obtained from the carbon foams carbonized under different temperatures implied that the degree of crystallinity greatly affects the characteristics of the carbon form. Also, the number of re-impregnations of carbon form in the resorcinol-formaldehyde resin was varied from 1 to 10 times, followed by re-carbonization at 800˚C for 2 hours under argon gas flow. As the number of re-immersion treatments increased, the porosity decreased while the compression strength improved by about four times when re-impregnation was repeated 10 times. These results imply the possibility of customizing the characteristics of carbon foam by controlling the carbonization and re-immersion conditions.

A research was conducted to investigate the effect of treatment of woody charred materials such as wood vinegar, charcoal, and mixture of wood vinegar and charcoal on the growth and components of tomato and chinese cabbage. The effect of treatment of woody charred materials on the growth and components of tomato the research findings are as follows. The total number of soil microorganisms increased in the groups treated with woody charred materials compared with the control. The fruit number, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit weight, hardness and sugar contents of tomato did not show significant difference in all plots treated with woody charred materials, but the plot treated with wood vinegar + charcoal showed relatively higher values in general. Vitamin C contents were shown higher in the plots treated with woody charred materials than the control, and among the treatment plots. The effect of treatment of woody charred materials on the growth and components of chinese cabbage the research findings are as follows. The soil chemical components did not change before and after the treaiment of woody charred materials. The total number of soil microorganisms increased in the treatment plots compared with the control, The leaf length, leaf width, inner leaf number, plant weight, and head weight of Chinese cabbage treated with woody charred materials were in general larger than the comtrol. Among the treatment plots, the plot treated with wood vinegar + charcoal showed slightly higher values. The contents of minerals in chinese cabbage such as Ca, Fe, K, Mg and Mn were higher in the treatment plots than the control.