Activated carbon monoliths have been developed into a number of new technologies including volatile organic chemical (VOC) recovery and heated canisters for automotive fuel systems. The process of creating these structured carbons has been well established. Part of the production process is the carbonisation of phenolic resin, which typically sees weight losses in the region of 55%. This has implications for the large scale production of phenolic resin monoliths as large quantities of pyrolysis waste needs to be safely dealt with. A cost effective method of dealing with this waste is via condensation, which can capture up to 50% of the waste. Therefore, accurate characterisation of this condensate is necessary for safe disposal. Extensive work has been carried out into the characterisation of the products of pyrolysis of phenolic resin. It has been reported that these products typically include a range phenols and their derivatives. This work was carried out using a phenol formaldehyde resin with a ratio of 1:5:1. The formation of amines has not previously been reported as samples with nitrogen containing cross linking agents were not studied. Hexamethylene tetramine (HMT) is used as a curing agent during the production of activated carbon monoliths. The addition of HMT introduces nitrogen cross linking between the Novolak polymers.
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