Formation and Manufacture of Activated Carbon

Adsorbents Fundamentals and Applications, Edited By Ralph T. Yang ISBN 0-471-29741-0 Copyright 2003 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

By judicious choice of the precursor and also careful control of both carbonization and activation steps, it is possible to tailor the pore structure for particular applications (e.g.. Barton et al., 1999). Mesoporosity (near or larger than 30 A) is desirable for liquid-phase applications, whereas smaller pore sizes (10 to 25 A) are required for gas-phase applications (Yang, 1997). The following table (Table 1) shows the pore size distribution as a function of the rank of the precursor coal (Wilson, 1981). 

PORE STRUCTURE AND STANDARD TESTS FOR ACTIVATED CARBON 

Activated carbons are characterized by a large surface area between 300 and 4000 m /g, as measured by the BET method, and are the largest among all 

Carbon Tetrachloride Number or Butane Number The carbon tetrachloride number, as defined by ASTM D3467-99, is the ultimate capacity for CCU by adsorption of its vapor in air. The carbon tetrachloride number of a typical commercial GAC is 60, meaning 60% (wt./wt.). Due to the adverse effects of CCLt to the environment and human health, the butane number is adopted, which measures the capacity for n-butane (ASTM D5228-92). Empirically, the CCI4 number can be obtained by multiplying the butane number by 2.55. 

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