Pyrolysis Behavior and Pore-Forming Mechanism During Reuse of Textile Waste Flax by Activation

The feasibility of preparing activated carbon by chemical activation from textile waste flax was studied. According to thermogravimetric analysis, H3PO4 and ZnCl2 changed the pyrolysis behavior of flax. Reactions between H3PO4 or ZnCl2 degradation intermediaries and flax resulted in flax carbonization and activation. The effects of activation temperature, time and impregnation ratio on yield, micropore, mesopore and elemental composition were discussed in detail. Results showed that the optimum activation temperature was 700 °C for H3PO4 and 800 °C for ZnCl2 while optimum activation time and impregnation ratio for both were 60 min and 1.0. H3PO4 activation was higher in yield while ZnCl2 activation obtained carbons that were higher both in surface area and mesopore volume. H3PO4 and ZnCl2 were able to carbonize the original flax components and produced activated flax that is highly carbonaceous, rich in surface functional groups and powdered in particle size.