Preparation and properties of activated carbon fabric from acrylic fabric waste

With the aim of developing a cheap but high performance activated carbon fa bric, acrylic fabric wastes were reused to produce an activated carbon fabr ic. The precursor fabric was stabilized in the condition of as-obtained at 250 degrees C for 5 h to get the degree of stabilization of 79%. The stabil ized fabric was subsequently carbonized with stepwise sequential heat treat ment, denoted as the sequential multistage carbonization technique, followe d by activation with steam. The specific surface area and the total pore vo lume changed little through stabilization and sequential multistage carboni zation while the total weight loss increased almost linearly with the incre ase of heat treatment temperature. When the carbonized fabric was activated at 900 degrees C for 5 min, both the specific surface area and the total p ore volume increased abruptly to 2400 m(2)/g and 1.15 cm(3)/g, respectively . We also obtained the iodine number of 1800 mg/g, methylene blue number of 300 mg/g, and benzene adsorptivity of about 54%. All these performances of the prepared PAN-based ACFs are superior to those of conventional commerci al PAN-based ACFs. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All lights reserved.