Kinetic Studies on Physical and Chemical Activation of Phenolic Resin Chars

Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) has been proven to be an excellent material for many industrial applications. A systematic study has been carried out of the kinetics of physical as well as chemical activation of phenolic resin chars. Physical activation was carried out using $CO_2$ and chemical activation using KOH as activating agent. There are number of factors which influence the rate of activation. The activation temperature and residence time at HTT varied in the range $550{\sim}1000^{\circ}C$ and $\frac{1}{2}{\sim}8$ hrs respectively. Kinetic studies show that the rate of chemical activation is 10 times faster than physical activation even at much lower temperature. Above study show that the chemical activation process is suitable to prepare granular activated carbon with very high surface area i.e.$ 2895\;m^2/g$ in short duration of time i.e. 1 to 2 hrs at lower temperature i.e. $750^{\circ}C$ from phenolic resins.