The world consumption of activated carbons (ACs) is steadily increasing and new applications are emerging, particularly those concerning environmental pollution remediation. In this work different activation processes are analyzed to prepare ACs having well developed narrow micropore volumes (< 0.7nm) or well developed mesopore volumes useful for their applications to retain toluene (at low concentration) or for the recovery of gasoline vapors. Different precursors and activation procedures are analyzed, and when possible compared. The precursors used are: two natural bio-fiber precursors (banana pseudostem (BPS) and coconut fiber matting (CFM)) and some spherical carbon materials (SACs). The activation procedures used are: phosphoric acid activation (after Hydrothermal Impregnation [1] and after Incipient Wetness Impregnation, for BPS and CFM), hydroxides activation (NaOH and KOH, for CFM) and physical activation (CO2 and steam, for SACs). The objective of this work is to analyze the influence that different preparation variables (e.g., precursor, activating agent/precursor ratio (in the case of the chemical activations) or the activation degree (in the physical activation)) have on the porosity development of the prepared ACs. The textural characterization of all the samples has been performed using N2 adsorption at-196oC and CO2 at 0°C.
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