Mesoporous activated carbon
View Patent ↗Mesoporous activated carbon having a mesopore structure of at least about 10%. In at least some embodiments, the activated carbon may be coconut shell-based. The enhanced activated carbon may have an intraparticle diffusion constant of at least about 40 mg/g/hr 1/2 .
1. A method of producing an enhanced activated carbon, comprising:
providing a predominantly microporous virgin activated carbon;
introducing an aqueous calcium-based catalyst to the virgin activated carbon to produce a catalyst impregnated activated carbon;
heating the catalyst impregnated activated carbon at a pyrolysis temperature until a mesopore volume of at least about 10% is achieved while substantially maintaining a micropore structure associated with the virgin activated carbon to produce the enhanced activated carbon;
subjecting the enhanced activated carbon to a dye test to determine its intraparticle diffusion constant; and
screening the enhanced activated carbon based on a threshold dye test number, wherein the threshold dye test number is at least about 40 mg/g/hr 1/2 for xylenol orange dye.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is associated with a mass loss of at least about 10%.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous calcium-based catalyst comprises calcium chloride.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous calcium-based catalyst comprises a chelator.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the chelator comprises citric acid.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virgin activated carbon is coconut shell-based.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virgin activated carbon is at least about 90% microporous.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst impregnated activated carbon is maintained at an intermediate temperature prior to reaching the pyrolysis temperature.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virgin activated carbon is sprayed with or soaked in the aqueous calcium-based catalyst.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising oxidizing the catalyst impregnated activated carbon with carbon dioxide.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the catalyst impregnated activated carbon is oxidized with carbon dioxide and steam.
12. A method of producing an enhanced activated carbon, comprising:
providing a predominantly microporous virgin activated carbon;
introducing an aqueous calcium-based catalyst to the virgin activated carbon to produce a catalyst impregnated activated carbon;
heating the catalyst impregnated activated carbon at a pyrolysis temperature until a mesopore volume of at least about 10% is achieved while substantially maintaining a micropore structure associated with the virgin activated carbon to produce the enhanced activated carbon, wherein heating is performed until achieving an intraparticle diffusion constant of at least about 100 mg/g/hr 1/2 ;
subjecting the enhanced activated carbon to a dye test to determine its intraparticle diffusion constant; and
screening the enhanced activated carbon based on a threshold dye test number.