New activated carbon with high thermal conductivity and its microwave regeneration performance

Abstract

Using a walnut shell as a carbon source and ZnCl2 as an activating agent, we resolved the temperature gradient problems of activated carbon in the microwave desorption process. An appropriate amount of silicon carbide was added to prepare the composite activated carbon with high thermal conductivity while developing VOC adsorption-microwave regeneration technology. The experimental results show that the coefficient of thermal conductivity of SiC-AC is three times as much as those of AC and SY-6. When microwave power was 480 W in its microwave desorption, the temperature of the bed thermal desorption was 10 °C to 30 °C below that of normal activated carbon prepared in our laboratory. The toluene desorption activation energy was 16.05 kJ∙mol−1, which was 15% less than the desorption activation energy of commercial activated carbon. This study testified that the process could maintain its high adsorption and regeneration desorption performances.