FABRICATION OF CARBON-FIBER COMPOSITES FOR GAS SEPARATION

The fabrication of monolithic activated carbon fibre composites using isotropic pitch based carbon fibres, and phenolic resin as binder, is briefly described. The dimensional changes during drying, curing, baki ng and activation stages are presented and discussed. Data on other ph ysical properties of the composites including their permeability and s urface area are presented. With respect to gas separation, a technique developed to assess the potential of the composites to separate metha ne and carbon dioxide is described; the effects of some of the fabrica ting process variables on performance in CH4/CO2 separation is present ed and discussed. In particular the effect of the extent of weight los s during activation on the final composite's properties is described. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd