The effect of carbonization temperature, carbonization time and impregnation ratio on the properties of activated carbon produced from Arundo donax

Activated carbons from Arundo donax were obtained by varying impregnation ratio, carbonization time, and carbonization temperature via chemical activation method. By operating impregnation ratio as 1.5 and carbonization temperature as 400 degrees C, the activated carbons with the highest surface areas were produced. Under this operating condition, the surface areas were measured to be 1784, 1781, and 1785 m(2)/g when the carbonization times were 60, 90, and 120 min, respectively. N, adsorption-desorption isotherms are generally Type I and Type IV isotherm mixtures, but when sufficient thermal energy at carbonization process is given and the chemical activation ratio is increased, N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms are more likely to resemble Type IV isotherms. Also, H4 type hysteresis in the N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms proves that activated carbons have micromesopore structures, and the pore shapes are usually cylindrical. Moreover, the resultant activated carbons were characterized by using pore size distributions, elemental analysis, SEM and FTIR.