Preparation and Characterization of Activated Carbon Fiber from Paper

Activated carbon fibers （ACFS） with surface area of 1388 m2/g prepared from paper by chemical activation with KOH has been utilized as the adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solution. The experimental data were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich models of adsorption. The effects of pH value on the adsorption capacity of ACFS were also investigated. The rates of adsorption were found to conform to the kinetic model of Pseudo-second-order equation with high values of the correlation coefficients （R〉0.998）. The Langmuir isotherm was found to fit the experimental data better than the Feundlich isotherm over the whole concentration range. Maximum adsorption capacity of 520 mg/g at equilibrium was achieved. It was found that pH played a major role in the adsorption process, higher pH value favored the adsorption of MB.

Modification of Activated Carbon Fiber by Loading Metals and Their Performance on SO2 Removal

Metal-loaded activated carbon fibers （ACFs） were prepared by impregnation and characterized by N2 adsorption at 77K, XRD, XPS and SEM. Their properties on SO2 removal were examined in a tubular fixed bed reactor with a model flue gas. Cobalt-loaded ACF showed the best activity among the prepared metal-loaded ACFs and a constant removal ratio of SO2 above 87% during continuous exposure to the flow of SO2/O2/H2O/N2 at 45℃ for more than 216h. The characteristic of the prepared loaded-ACFs showed that the exceptional activity of Co-ACF was attributed to the high amount of active sites due to modification by loading cobalt.

Adsorption onto Activated Carbon Fiber Cloth and Electrothermal Desorption of Volatile Organic Compound(VOCs):A Specific Review

A general research program, focusing on activated carbon fiber cloths （ACFC） and felt for environmental protection was performed. The objectives were multiple： （i） a better understanding of the adsorption mecha- nisms of these kinds of materials; （ii） the specification and optimization of new processes using these adsorbents; （iii） the modeling of the adsorption of organic pollutants using both the usual and original approaches; （iv） applications of ACFC in industrial processes. The general question was： how can activated carbon fiber cloths and felts be used in air treatment processes for the protection of environment. In order to provide an answer, different approaches were adopted. The materials （ACFC） were characterized in terms of macro structure and internal porosity. Specific studies were performed to get the air flow pattern through the fabrics. Head loss data were generated and modeled as a fi.mction of air velocity. The performances of ACF to remove volatile organic compounds （VOCs） were approached with the adsorption isotherms and breakthrough curves in various operating conditions. Regenera- tion by Joule effect shows a homogenous heating of adsorber modules with rolled or pleated layers. Examples of industrial developments were presented showing an interesting technology for the removal of VOCs, such as dichloromethane, benzene, isopropyl alcohol and toluene, alone or in a complex mixture.

Adsorption characteristics of carbon tetrachloride from aqueous solution onto polyacrylonitrile-based activated carbon fiber

The isotherm,mechanism and kinetics of carbon tetrachloride(CT) adsorption by polyacrylonitrile-based activated carbon fiber(PAN-ACF) were investigated in batch reactors and a continuous flow reactor,and the regeneration of PAN-ACF was also studied.Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich(D-R) adsorption equations can well describe the adsorption isotherm.CT is mainly adsorbed on the exterior surface of PAN-ACF with low boundary layer effect and rate-controlling step of intra-particle diffusion.The adsorption dynamics in the batch reactor well fits with the pseudo-first-order model,and the breakthrough curves in the continuous flow reactor can be well described by the Yoon-Nelson model.The ACF can be recycled through thermal regeneration,whereas the adsorption capacity decreases from 7.87 to 4.98 mg/g after the fourth regeneration.78%-94%of CT can be removed from the wastewater of a fluorine chemical plant on a pilot scale,which confirms the efficacy of ACF under industrial conditions.The results indicate that PAN-ACF is applicable to CT removal from wastewater.

Analysis of α, β, γ-hexachlorocyclohexanes in water by novel activated carbon fiber-solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography—mass spectrometry

A fast and simple method for determination of α, β, γ-hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) in water using activated carbon fiber-solid phase microextraction(ACF-SPME) were studied. Results showed the performance of adsorption and desorption of three HCHs on ACF were excellent. A wide linear range from 10 to 100 μg/L and detection limits of the ng/L level were obtained using ACF-SPME with GC-MS in selected ion monitoring(SIM) acquisition mode. The proposed method was also successfully applied for determination of three HCHs in tap water. Compared to commercial fibers, ACF showed some advantages such as better resistance to solvents, higher thermal stability, longer lifetime and lower cost. The data demonstrated that GC-MS with ACF-SPME is well suitable for the analysis of HCHs in water.

Gas phase tricholoethylene removal at low concentration using activated carbon fiber

The breakthrough adsorption behaviors of gas phase trichloroethylene in a packed bed of activated carbon fibers(ACF) were investigated. The specific surface area of the ACF was 600 m 2/g, 1400 m 2/g and 1600 m 2/g, respectively, and the concentration of trichloroethylene ranged from 270 mg/m 3 to 2700 mg/m 3. Results showed that the capacity of adsorption increased with increasing specific surface area, the relationship between the logarithms of 10% breakthrough time and concentration was approximately linear over the experimental range, the breakthrough time decreased with increasing temperature and humidity. The breakthrough curves at different inlet concentration or different temperature can be predicted by several simple theoretical models with good agreements.

A Study on the Surface Structures of Viscose-based Activated Carbon Fiber by FT-IR Spectroscopy and XPS

Using viscose fiber (VF) as starting material and common steam as activating agent, formation of oxygen structures in activated carbon fiber is investigated. In the preparation of samples, VF was first heated at temperatures between 450℃ and 900℃ in N_2 artmosphere. Then, in a successive activation stage, the product carbonized at 600℃ was activated in steam at 450-900℃ for 30 min, and at 600℃ for 5-30 min. The other carbonization products were activated at 600 and 900℃ for 30 min respectively. The products activated at 900℃ were then activated at 450℃ for 30 min again. The starting materiah carbonized products and all activation products were examined by FT-IR spectroscopy and some products were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS). And the yields of the carbonized and activated products were calculated. By analysing these spectra, the amount of oxygen-containing functional groups of the activated products attained under various activation time, various activation temperature and various previous carbonization temperature was determined.

Plasma Modification of Activated Carbon Fibers for Adsorption of SO_2

Viscose-based activated carbon fibers （VACFs） were treated by a dielectric-barrier discharge plasma under the feed gas of N2. The surface functional groups of VACFs were modified to improve the adsorption and catalysis capacity for SO2. The surface properties of the untreated and plasma-treated VACFs were diagnosed by SEM, BET, FTIR, and XPS, and the adsorption capacities of VACFs for SO2 were also compared and discussed. The results show that after the plasma treatment, the external surface of VACFs was etched and became rougher, while the surface area and the total pore volume decreased. FTIR and XPS revealed that nitrogen atoms were introduced onto the VACFs surface and the distribution of functional groups on the VACFs surface was changed remarkably. The adsorption characteristic of SO2 indicates that the plasmatreated VACFs have better adsorption capacity than the original VACFs due to the nitrogen functional groups and new functional groups formed in modification, which is beneficial to the adsorption of SO2.

Construction of Hierarchical Nanostructured N-doped TiO2 Immobilized Activated Carbon Fiber Porous Composites for Toluene Removal

The hierarchical nanostructured N-doped TiO2 immobilized activated carbon fiber(N-TiO2/ACF)porous composites are fabricated to removal dynamic toluene gas.The results show that nitrogen ions doping and ACF modification can decrease the band gap of TiO2,leading to red shift toward visible light region.Interestingly,N-TiO2/ACF exhibits strongly synergistic effect owing to high surface area,good crystallinity,enhanced bandgap structure and light harvesting.The toluene removal rate of N-TiO2/ACF composites is 2.29 times higher than that of TiO2.The N-TiO2/ACF for toluene degradation followed the Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model,and the rate constant is enhanced 8 times compared with TiO2.The possible photodegradation pathway and mechanisms are proposed.

STUDY ON THE PROPERTIES OF DIFFERENT ACTIVATED CARBON FIBERS AND THEIR ADSORPTION CHARACTERISTICS FOR FORMALDEHYDE

Porous structure and surface chemistry of activated carbon fibers obtained by differ-ent precursors and activation methods were investigated. Adsorption isotherms werecharacterized by nitrogen adsorption at 77K over a relative pressure range from 10 6to 1. The regularization method according to Density Functional Theory (DFT) wasemployed to calculate the pore size distribution in the samples. Their specific surfaceareas were calculated by BET method, micropore volume and microporous specificsurface area calculated by t-plot method and MPD by Horvath-Kawazoe equation. Mi-cropore volume of rayon-based ACF was higher than that of other samples. The staticand dynamic adsorption capacity for formaldehyde on different ACFs was determined.The results show that steam activated Rayon-based A CFs had higher adsorption capac-ity than that of steam and KOH activated PAN-A CFs. Breakthrough curves illustratedthat Rayon-ACFs had longer breakthrough time, thus they possessed higher adsorp-tion capacity for formaldehyde than that of PAN-ACFs. The entire sample had smalladsorption capacity and short breakthrough time for water. Rayon-A CFs had exccl-lent adsorption selectivity for formaldehyde than PAN-ACFs. And the samples withhigh surface areas had relatively high adsorption capacity for formaldehyde. Elementaicontent of different A CFs were performed. Rayon-based A CFs contained more oxygenthan PAN-ACFs, which may be attributed to their excellent adsorption capacity forformaldehyde.

Catalytic Effect of Activated Carbon and Activated Carbon Fiber in Non-Equilibrium Plasma-Based Water Treatment

Catalysis and regeneration efficiency of granular activated carbon （GAC） and activated carbon fiber （ACF） were investigated in a non-equilibrium plasma water treatment reactor with a combination of pulsed streamer discharge and GAC or ACF. The experimental results show that the degradation efficiency of methyl orange （MO） by the combined treatment can increase 22% （for GAC） and 24% （for ACF） respectively compared to pulsed discharge treatment alone, indicating that the combined treatment has a synergetic effect. The MO degradation efficiency by the combined treatment with pulsed discharge and saturated GAC or ACF can increase 12% and 17% respectively compared to pulsed discharge treatment alone. Both GAC and ACF show catalysis and the catalysis of ACF is prominent. Meanwhile, the regeneration of GAC and ACF are realized in this process. When H202 is introduced into the system, the utilization efficiency of ozone and ultraviolet light is improved and the regeneration efficiency of GAC and ACF is also increased.

Fibrous TiO_2 prepared by chemical vapor deposition using activated carbon fibers as template via adsorption,hydrolysis and calcinations

TiO2 fibers were prepared via alternatively introducing water vapor and Ti precursor carried by N2 to an APCVD （chemical vapor deposition under atmospheric pressure） reactor at ≤200 ℃. Activated carbon fibers （ACFs） were used as templates for deposition and later removed by calcinations. The obtained catalysts were characterized by scanning electron micros- copy （SEM）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller （BET） and X-ray diffraction （XRD） analysis The pores within TiO2 fibers included micro-range and meso-range, e.g., 7 nm, and the specific surface areas for TiO2 fibers were 141 m^2/g and 148 m^2/g for samples deposited at 100 ℃ and 200℃ （using ACFI700 as template）, respectively. The deposition temperature significantly influenced TiO2 morphology. The special advantages of this technique for preparing porous nano-material include no consumption of organic solvent in the process and easy control of deposition conditions and speeds.

Structural Performance and Characterization of Polyimide Doped Activated Carbon Fibers for Mercury Adsorption

Structure characteristics about activated carbon fibers (ACF) and polyimide (P84) doped ACF modified by HNO3 solution were studied to apply in mercury removal in coal-fired flue gases. The P84, which was always used in the non-woven fabric for bag filter, was intermingled with polyacrylonitrile-based ACF (PAN-ACF) in the weight ratio of 1∶1 in order to make the doped ACF with P84 (doped-ACF-P84). Then the doped-ACF-P84 fibers were modified by HNO3 solution. The structure and morphology of doped-ACF-P84 were characterized and compared with those of ACF and doped-ACF-P84 modified by HNO3solution. The results show that the modified doped-ACF-P84 fibers have almost the same pore structure and specific surface area comparing with the original one. However, contrasted with the original PAN-ACF, the doped-ACF-P84 fibers modified by HNO3 solution have more oxygen-containing groups used for mercury removal. In particular, they have more lactone and carboxyl groups.

Effects of Pre-oxidation Conditions on Adsorption Performance of Activated Carbon Fibers

In order to investigate the effects of pre-oxidation conditions on adsorption performance of activated carbon fibers （ ACFs ）, electrospun polyacrylonitrile （ PAN ） fiber webs were adopted as precursors for preparing ACFs. Firstly, the webs were stabilized under different pre-oxidation conditions; secondly, the pre-oxidative fibers were chemically activated by high temperature treatment in nitrogen. Pre-oxidation temperature, heating rate, and treatment time are the main factors on affecting the adsorption performance of the ACFs. Scanning electron microscope （ SEM）, differential scanning calorimeter （DSC）, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） were used to characterize the structure and property of the pre-oxldatlve fibers, and the dynamic benzene adsorption capacity of benzene of ACFs was measured. The results indicate that the moderate pre-oxidation condition is necessary to prepare the ACFs with better adsorption capacity, and the optimal oxidation conditions are to increase from room temperature to 230 ~C with a heating rate of 0.75 ~C ~ min -1 held at the peak temperature for 30min.

Catalytic Pyrolyses of Rayon and the Effect on Activated Carbon Fiber

The catalytic pyrolyses of rayon have been studied respectively by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) when rayon was treated with phosphoric acid (PA), three ammonium phosphate salts and ammonium sulfate (AS). The air is favorable to the catalysis of dibasic ammonium phosphate (DAP), but not to those of ADP, PA, AP, and AS obviously. It is put forward that a peak’s shape character can be described with the ratio of height to half-height-width (H/W /2) of the peak on a differential thermo-gravimetric (DTG) curve. A flat cracking peak, presenting a more moderate dehydration reaction, has a smaller ratio and could lead to higher carbonization and activation yields. The experimental results prove this view. According to expectation, the order of catalysis is: DAP≥ADP>PA> APAS no catalyst.

PREPARATION AND THEIR ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF ACTIVATED CARBON FIBER CONTAINING SILVER

Several kinds of activated carbon fiber（ACF）, Granule Activated carbon（AC） containing silver ion or fine silver particle(Ag-ACF/AC) have been prepared by soaking ACF or AC in the salt solution of silver. Ag, AgCl and AgI compounds have been loaded onto the fibers. The structure of the fibers was measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). The Ag content in the fiber was obtained by an Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The Ag+ content in water after the antibacterial test was measured by an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) emission spectroscopy. Antibacterial test was carried out against Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus). The results show that Ag-ACF/AC have strong antibacterial activity against E.coli and S.aureus. After dealt with ACF/AC loading Ag, AgCl, AgI, no E.coli and S.aureus alive in solution can be detected. The analysis of Ag content in water after antibacterial test showed that the content of Ag meet the quality requirement of the National Potable Water Standard. It is indicated that ACF/AC-Ag in this experiment would be a safe antibacterial agent .

ADSORPTION CAPACITY OF ACTIVATED CARBON FIBER FABRIC IN CYANIDE LEACHING LIQUOR OF GOLD ORES

Adsorption capacity of ACFF in cyanide leaching liquor of gold ores was studied with cyanide leaching liquor of gold ores, containing various kinds of ions. The adsorbed leaching liquor was analyzed by atomic emission spectroscopy and colorimetric method. The contents of various kinds of ions in ACFF were determined with X-ray photoctron spectroscopy. ACFF not only adsorbed gold but also adsorbed arsenic, nickel, zinc, calcium, sulphur, bismuth, copper, iron, silver and cyanide anion. Atomic percentage of C and those of O, N, Zn, Fe increase and decrease respectively with the increase of the layer depth, while those of Ca, Au, Ag keep constant.

STUDIES ON THE CATALYTIC REACTION OF NITROGEN OXIDE ON METAL MODIFIED ACTIVATED CARBON FIBERS

The catalytic reaction of NO with CO and decomposition of NO over metal modified ACFs were investigated and compared with other carriers supported catalysts. It is demonstrated that Pd/ACF and Pd/Cu/ACF have high catalytic activity for the reaction of NO/CO, while Pt/ACF, Pt/Cu/ACF and Co/Cu/ACF have very low catalytic activity in similar circumstance. Pd-modified ACF possesses high catalytic decomposition of NO at 300℃. Pd/CB and Pd/GAC present good catalytic decomposition ability for NO only at low flowrate. Pd/G, Pd/ZMS and Pd/A however, do not show any catalytic activity for NO decomposition even at 400℃. Catalytic temperature, NO flowrate and loading of metal components affect the decomposition rate of NO. The coexistence of Cu with Pd on Cu/Pd/ACF leads to crystalline of palladium to more unperfected so as to that increase the catalytic activity.

PROGRESS ON ACTIVATED CARBON FIBERS

Activated carbon fiber is one kind of important adsorption materials. These novel fibrous adsorbents have high specific surface areas or abundant functional groups, which make them have greater adsorption/desorption rates and larger adsorption capacities than other adsorbents. They can be prepared as bundle, paper, cloth and felt to meet various technical requirement. They also show reduction property. In this paper the latest progress on the studies of the preparation and adsorption properties of activated carbon fibers is reviewed. The application of these materials in drinking water purification, environmental control, resource recovery, chemical industry, and in medicine and health care is also presented.