Production of porous carbon materials from bark

Abstract

The effect of the conditions of consecutive carbonization–activation of the bark of larch, fir tree, and birch in a fluidized bed reactor on the yield, textural characteristics, and sorption properties of the resulting porous carbon materials was studied. The rate of temperature increase at the stage of the pyrolysis of bark exerted the greatest effect on the specific surface area, total pore volume, and sorption capacity of porous carbon materials for iodine and methylene blue. The porous carbon materials obtained by the slow pyrolysis (5 K/min) of larch bark with an isothermal exposure for 60 min at 600°C and the subsequent activation with CO2 at 850°C for 30 min were characterized by a maximum sorption activity. The porous carbon materials obtained from bark by consecutive carbonization–activation in a fluidized bed were similar to commercial powder sorbents from wood in their characteristics.