Activation and Micropore Structure Determination of Activated Carbon-Fiber Composites

Rigid, high surface area activated carbon fiber composites have been produced with high permeabilities for environmental applications in gas and water purification. These novel monolithic adsorbents can be produced in single pieces to a given size and shape. The project involves a collaboration between the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER), University of Kentucky. The carbon fiber composites are produced at the ORNL and activated at the CAER using different methods, with the aims of producing a uniform degree of activation, and of closely controlling pore structure and adsorptive properties. The main focus of the present work has been to find a satisfactory means to uniformly activate large samples of carbon fiber composites and produce controlled pore structures. Several environmental applications have been explored for the activated carbon fiber composites. One of these was to evaluate the activated composites for the separation of CH{sub 4}-CO{sub 2} mixtures, and an apparatus was constructed specifically for this purpose. The composites were further evaluated in the cyclic recovery of volatile organics. The activated carbon fiber composites have also been tested for possible water treatment applications by studying the adsorption of sodium pentachlorophenolate, PCP.