Manufacture and Characterization of Carbonaceous Engineered Adsorbents from Waste Mesquite Plants for Air Pollution Control

摘要

Adsorption with activated carbon adsorbents is widely used for the removal of air pollutants from gas streams. This study focuses on the production and physical characterization of carbonaceous adsorbents from low cost precursors such as mesquite wood materials that are available in the Texas-Mexico border region. The production of activated carbon adsorbents from South Texas native mesquite woodchips can provide a two-fold environmental and economic benefit: A recycling path is created for waste wood materials, and novel low-cost engineered adsorbents are produced with physical and chemical activation methods for use in air quality applications.Wood-derived activated carbon samples were prepared in a bench-scale tubular reactor from mesquite woodchips. Steam and potassium carbonate were used for the physical and chemical activation methods, respectively to manufacture the carbonaceous engineered adsorbents.The wood-derived activated carbons were then characterized in terms of their physical and adsorption capacities for nitrogen at 77K and methanol and water vapor at ambient temperature. The surface areas of the samples were determined with the N2-Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method, and the % yield, bulk density, pore size distribution, average pore width and total pore volume were also determined. The prepared samples were compared with commercially available activated carbons for the equilibrium adsorption capacities of methanol and water vapor from gas streams.