Enhancement of Microporosity through Physical Activation

Micro porous carbons are used for the sorption/separation of light gases, where as the carbon with broad pore size is applied for removal of large organic molecules. In this work activated carbon was prepared from natural material pine wood. Pine wood monoliths were carbonized in inert nitrogen atmosphere for different intervals of times. To enhance the surface area and to develop interconnecting porosity, the pyrolysed monoliths were activated with steam at different flow rates of steam under identical conditions. It was found that flow rate of steam has profound effect on both surface characteristic and surface morphology. Surface characteristic were determined by BET method and surface morphology was seen by using SEM (scanning electron microscope). Further the flow rate of steam was optimized to retain monolith structure as well as higher surface area.