Preparation and adsorption performances of mesopore-enriched bamboo activated carbon

Abstract

Activated carbon with high specific surface area and considerable mesopores was prepared from bamboo scraps by phosphoric acid activation. The effect of activation conditions was studied. Under the conditions of impregnating bamboo with 80% H3PO4 at 80°C for 9 days and activation at 500°C for 4 h, the prepared activated carbon had the highest mesopore volume of 0.67 cm3/g, a specific surface area of 1567 m2/g, and the mesopore ratio reached 47.18%. The study on adsorption isotherms of CH4, CO2, N2 and O2 on the activated carbon were carried out at 298 K. The considerable difference in the adsorption capacity between CO2 and the other gases was observed, which would be of interest for the adsorptive separation/purification of gaseous CO2 from its mixtures, especially from mixtures with N2 and/or O2.