Properties of Active Carbon from Phenol-Formaldehyde Resin Waste

Abstract

The specific surface area and pore size distribution of the active carbons from phenolformaldehyde resin waste (PFW) were measured.Activation reaction proceeded at relatively low temperatutes, e.g.at 6500C, because inorganicsubstances added to resin as fillers increased the reaction rate of, carbon withsteam. But, the specific surface area values of the active carbons were less than500 m2/g.The specific surface area of inorganic substance obtained by burning active carbon to ashes at 800eC was 7.3m2 g. This value was negligibly smallcompared to that of the specific surface area of the active carbons. Therefore, as the ash contents decreased from 43.7 to 5.7% by treating the active carbonfromPFW with hydrochloric acid, the specific surface area increased from 462 to808 m2/g.The reactivity of char against steam decreased by the HCI treatmentand favorable active carbons with specific surface area as high as 1400 m2/g weresuccessfully prepared.In order to, prepare active carbons with large Specificsurface area, the treatment with hydrochloric acid was more effective before theactivation than that after the activation.The active carbons prepared from HCI- treated chars showed higher adsorption ability for sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonatethan commercial active carbons.