Effect of micropore size distribution on phenol adsorption on steam activated carbons

Abstract

The adsorption of phenol on microporous activated carbons (ACs) produced in laboratory from polyethyleneterephtalate (PET), furfuryl alcohol (PFA), polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and anthracene oil pitch (ASN) have been studied. The ACs have been obtained by carbonization and subsequent steam activation at 850 °C to 50 % burn off. For comparison, commercial activated carbons from coconut shell, and CWZ 22 carbon have been applied. All studied ACs are predominantly microporous and have neutral or basic surface characteristics. The pseudo second kinetic model and Langmuir equation were found to fit the experimental data very well. A very good correlation between the volume of pores with a width smaller than 1.4 nm (V1.4) and the volume of phenol calculated from Langmuir monolayer capacity (qm) was found. Based on that, it can be concluded that the phenol adsorption is governed mainly by micropore filling through the π–π dispersion interaction in micropores smaller than double molecular diameter of phenol.