Porous structure improvement of coal activated carbon using steam activation in pilot scale Available to Purchase

In commercial AC production, it is widely known that the steam activation process with coal as a precursor produces a lower micropores volume compared to the micropores volume of AC with coconut shell precursors. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct experiments on a large scale to obtain coal-AC with high micropores. Precursor characteristics and control of process conditions such as temperature, coal size, and feed rate during the process affect porosity formation. In this study, experiments on AC production were carried out on a pilot scale with a capacity of 1 ton of product per day. The experimental variables consisted of carbonization temperature of 500-600°C, activation temperature of 950-1000°C with feed coal size of +10, -10+24, and -24 mesh, and feed rate of 25, 37.5, and 50 kg/hour. One of the methods to determine the volume of micropores in AC is iodine number. The higher the value of iodine number, the higher of the micropores volume and the adsorption capacity. The experimental results showed that BBAC with a feed size of -10+24 mesh, an activation temperature of 1060°C, and feed rate of 25 kg/hour had the highest iodine number of 1,349 mg/g. While the BTAC was obtained the highest iodine number value of 1,013 mg/g at a feed rate of 37.5 kg/hour, and temperature of 1080°C. This means that with the application of the right temperature, size, and feed rate, coal precursors can produce AC with high microporous as well as AC with coconut shell precursors. These results can be used as a reference for increasing commercial scale AC production.