Comparison of Selected Procedures for Generating Activated Carbon. . .
167
Obviously a large surface area is a priori preferable in order to increase the
sorption capacity.
Given all the factors affecting the cost of the technology and the final product, as
well as the impact on the environment and health, it is necessary to choose the best
options for the ratio of the cost of the final product (AC), product yield, sorption
properties, and harmfulness of production.
The maximum adsorption capacity of AC, which obviously is of major interest,
appears largely to be dependent on the structure of the raw material and the
processes of its production.
2 Methods
The study includes 21 different methods for producing activated carbon. The
methods comprise various starting material as well as both chemical and physical
activation of the initially produced carbon material.
Various materials with high carbon content can be used as raw materials for
the production of AC (Ioannidou and Zabaniotou 2007). Some of the widely used
starting materials are agro-industrial by-products that are characterized by their
renewability, high mechanical strength, low cost, abundance, and low ash content.
Hence, various studies report the use of biomass residues from agricultural waste in
AC production, such as coconut shells (Laine et al. 1989; Laine and Yunes 1992;
Boopathy et al. 2013: Lopez et al. 1996), tropical wood (Hayashi et al. 2000a; Janoš
et al. 2009; Phan et al. 2006), jute (Giraldo and Moreno-Piraján 2008), cane sugar
bagasse (Foo et al. 2013), walnut shells (Yang and Qiu 2010), Also non-agricultural
products, such as phenol-formaldehyde resins (Teng and Wang 2000), bituminous
coal (Hsu and Teng 2000), have been reported as sources of AC.
2.1 Data
The data applied in the study have been retrieved from available literature including
data from our recent paper on AC from Miscanthus straw (Abit et al. 2019).
It should be noted that for some procedures, e.g., that using Miscanthus straw
both a carbonization process and an activation process are part of the overall AC
production, whereas in other procedures only one carbonization/activation process
is involved.
To assess the efficiency of the methods for obtaining AC, four specific indicators
were selected:
1. The temperature of activation (TempA) that is believed to reflect the energy
consumption for the AC production. Thus, the lower the TempA the lower the
necessary energy consumption. Note that the negative values of TempA are used
167
Obviously a large surface area is a priori preferable in order to increase the
sorption capacity.
Given all the factors affecting the cost of the technology and the final product, as
well as the impact on the environment and health, it is necessary to choose the best
options for the ratio of the cost of the final product (AC), product yield, sorption
properties, and harmfulness of production.
The maximum adsorption capacity of AC, which obviously is of major interest,
appears largely to be dependent on the structure of the raw material and the
processes of its production.
2 Methods
The study includes 21 different methods for producing activated carbon. The
methods comprise various starting material as well as both chemical and physical
activation of the initially produced carbon material.
Various materials with high carbon content can be used as raw materials for
the production of AC (Ioannidou and Zabaniotou 2007). Some of the widely used
starting materials are agro-industrial by-products that are characterized by their
renewability, high mechanical strength, low cost, abundance, and low ash content.
Hence, various studies report the use of biomass residues from agricultural waste in
AC production, such as coconut shells (Laine et al. 1989; Laine and Yunes 1992;
Boopathy et al. 2013: Lopez et al. 1996), tropical wood (Hayashi et al. 2000a; Janoš
et al. 2009; Phan et al. 2006), jute (Giraldo and Moreno-Piraján 2008), cane sugar
bagasse (Foo et al. 2013), walnut shells (Yang and Qiu 2010), Also non-agricultural
products, such as phenol-formaldehyde resins (Teng and Wang 2000), bituminous
coal (Hsu and Teng 2000), have been reported as sources of AC.
2.1 Data
The data applied in the study have been retrieved from available literature including
data from our recent paper on AC from Miscanthus straw (Abit et al. 2019).
It should be noted that for some procedures, e.g., that using Miscanthus straw
both a carbonization process and an activation process are part of the overall AC
production, whereas in other procedures only one carbonization/activation process
is involved.
To assess the efficiency of the methods for obtaining AC, four specific indicators
were selected:
1. The temperature of activation (TempA) that is believed to reflect the energy
consumption for the AC production. Thus, the lower the TempA the lower the
necessary energy consumption. Note that the negative values of TempA are used