Activated carbon monolith derived from polymer and fast pyrolytic char: Effect of bio-oil phenol-formaldehyde resin

Abstract

Activated carbon monoliths (ACMs) were fabricated by H2O activation using powdered fast pyrolytic char (PFPC) as a raw material and bio-oil phenol-formaldehyde (BPF) resin as a binder. The effects of the ratio of BPF resin to PFPC on textural and chemical-surface properties of the ACMs were investigated using elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The adsorption capacity and mechanical properties under different conditions were examined by N2 adsorption analysis and compression strength, respectively. The results indicated that the optimal ratio was 20 wt.% BPF resin binder. The compression strength of ACMs with a carbon content of 79.7 wt.% reached 3.74 MPa, while the BET surface area and total pore volume were 731.3 m2/g and 0.589 cm3/g, respectively. ACMs appeared to be mainly mesoporous with low graphitization and contained multiple functional groups such as alkyl, esters, ether, phenol, olefin, etc.