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An analysis of the effect of the additional activation process on the formation of the porous structure and pore size distribution of the commercial activated carbon WG-12

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Abstract

The paper presents the results of research into the effects of the additional activation process of the commercial activated carbon WG-12 with KOH, ZnCl2, KOH/ZnCl2 and K2CO3 as activating agents on the formation of the porous structure and the adsorptive properties of that material. The numerical analyses were carried out on the basis of the isotherms of nitrogen adsorption with the use of the method based on the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, the Dubinin-Radushkevich equations, the non-local and the quenched solid density functional theories as well as the LBET method with the unique fast multivariate procedure of porous structure identification and the new LBET class adsorption models. Also, the research in question yielded information regarding the usefulness of the said methods of carbonaceous adsorbent porous structure description for practical technological applications and scientific research, as well as the possibilities to make practical use of the research results.

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Abbreviations

mA :

The total adsorption (mmol/g), m hA - the number of primary sites at the adsorbate pores

VhA :

The volume of a space accessible for the first layer adsorption (cm3/g)

θ kj :

The coverage ratio of j th layer at k th type clusters

θ :

The coverage ratio of layers n >1

π :

The relative pressure

α :

The geometrical parameter of the microporous structure

β :

The average number of sites provided by (n-1)-th layer for the n-th layer, n 2,k, averaged over all clusters

Q A and Q C :

The adsorption energies at the first (Q A ) and higher layers (Q C ) (J/mol)

R :

The gas constant

T :

Temperature

B Ak , B fk :

The energy parameters

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Acknowledgements

The research is led within the AGH University of Science and Technology Grant No. 11.11.210.217.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Energy and Fuels, AGH University of Science and Technology, al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059, Kraków, Poland

    Mirosław Kwiatkowski

  2. Institute of Chemical and Environment Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology, ul. Pułaskiego 10, 70-322, Szczecin, Poland

    Joanna Sreńscek-Nazzal & Beata Michalkiewicz

Authors
  1. Mirosław Kwiatkowski
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  2. Joanna Sreńscek-Nazzal
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  3. Beata Michalkiewicz
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Correspondence to Mirosław Kwiatkowski.

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Kwiatkowski, M., Sreńscek-Nazzal, J. & Michalkiewicz, B. An analysis of the effect of the additional activation process on the formation of the porous structure and pore size distribution of the commercial activated carbon WG-12. Adsorption 23, 551–561 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-017-9867-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-017-9867-4

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