Preparation and Characterization of Activated Carbon Fibers from Jute Fibers by Phosphoric Acid Activation

Abstract

Various jute-based activated carbon fibers were prepared by using jute fibers as raw materials and phosphoric acid as activating agent. The effects of three main factors such as concentration of activating agent, activation temperature and activation time on the yield and adsorptive properties of active carbon fibers were investigated via orthogonal experiments. The surface physical morphology of jute-based activated carbon fiber was also observed by using Scanning Electron Microscope. Results showed that the optimum conditions were phosphoric acid concentration of 4 mol/L, activation temperature of 600 °C and activation time of 1h. The yield, iodine number and amount of methylene blue adsorption of the active carbon fiber prepared under optimum conditions were 37.99 %, 1208.87 mg/g and 374.65 mg/g, respectively.