Development of Activated Carbons from Coal Combustion By-Products. Annual Technical Progress Report, June 2001

摘要

The implementation of increasingly stringent Clean Air Act Regulations by the coal utility industry has resulted in an increase in the concentration of unburned carbon in coal combustion fly ash. In 1999, around 6 million tons of unburned carbon were disposed in the US, due to the present lack of efficient routes for its utilization. However, unburned carbon is a potential precursor for the production of adsorbent carbons, since it has gone through a devolatilization process while in the combustor, and therefore, only requires to be activated. Accordingly, this report evaluates and compares several routes for the production of activated carbons from unburned carbon, including physical activation with steam or CO(sub 2), and chemical activation using KOH pretreatment.