Effect of Steam Activation Parameters on Characteristics of Pine Based Activated Carbon

Activated carbons are well known as adsorbents for gases and vapors. Micro porous carbons are used for the sorption/separation of light gases, whereas, carbon with bigger pore size are applied for removal of large molecules. Therefore, the control of pore size of activated carbon plays a vital role for their use in specific applications. In the present work, steam activation parameters have been varied to control pore size of the resulting activated carbon. It was found that flow rate of steam has profound effect on both surface characteristic and surface morphology. The flow rate of steam was optimized to retain monolith structure as well as higher surface area.